


We're All Full Of Lies

by mindchemicals



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Crime, Crimes & Criminals, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Frerard, M/M, Mikey Way - Freeform, Murder, Mystery, Original Character(s), Rape/Non-con Elements, Ray Toro - Freeform, Romance, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teen Angst, Thriller, frank iero - Freeform, gerard way - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:35:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 29
Words: 40,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1723319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mindchemicals/pseuds/mindchemicals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dramatic arts teacher is an enigma. He paints graphic and gruesome scenes in his spare time. All of sudden bodies are appearing all over Belleville. The crime scenes are almost perfect replicas of the paintings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on http://www.mychemicalromancefanfiction.com/Story/38162/Were-All-Full-Of-Lies/   
> but decided to post it here too!   
> enjoy!

“Ow!” I screeched as the top of my head came in contact with car door window. I raised my hand to the location of the throbbing pain and rubbed against it gently causing my hair to knot a little in the area.  
“Oh, whoops speed bump, sorry honey” My dad spoke genuinely concerned, looking over the top of his glasses in the rear view mirror to check my welfare. I pouted and pulled my earphones out of my ears, not bothering to stop the music that was playing. I shuffled slightly in the back of the car and tried to rearrange myself in a more comfortable position. My legs had gone stiff from being cramped up for so long.  
My mother, noticing my movements turned and smiled, ”It won’t be too much longer, we’re almost there” she paused for a moment, uh oh, this wasn’t going to be good, “I know you’re not exactly happy about the situation-“  
I cut her off before she had a chance to continue, “Don’t mum, I don’t want to start arguing again”  
“But” She started, “No mum, nothing you can say will make this any better, you knew from the second you told me that this wouldn’t go down well, I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be in this country, I want to go home, to my real home, where my friends are, where everything that was important to me was” I spoke harshly, perhaps a bit too harshly because the smiled had disappeared from my mother’s face , she looked upset but irritated at the same time.  
“We had no choice Mirabelle” I shuddered at the use of my full name, “Your father and I’s work came here, we couldn’t stay in Australia, if we had we would be out on the street with no money” She spoke sternly occasionally turning her head toward me.  
I looked out the window, a few decrepit houses and graffiti coated buildings flew by, “And so Belleville, New Jersey had to be the only place with work, there was nothing in Australia?” I spat back.  
“The company shut down all of its Australian offices, honestly Mirabelle we’ve been through this a hundred times, and now there is no turning back, besides we couldn’t turn back even if we wanted to” My father decided to help my mother’s point, he was right, partially. We had had this conversation a fair few times before, I thought that the more I brought it up and annoyed them it might change their minds, but no.

My parents worked for a law firm, which meant I hardly ever saw them because all they ever did was work, I usually saw them as I left for school and again just before I went to bed at night and that was it. Most weekends I spend home alone because again, they were working. As to how we ended up here, well, due to ‘circumstances’ as my mother liked to say, the company closed all the Australian offices and opened new ones all over America and the UK. So my parents being the dedicated individuals that they are decided to follow suit. It was within weeks that we had our little beachside house completely packed up and our belongings shipped here to Belleville. I had to say goodbye to everything I loved, the warmth and sub-tropical climate of our town, my friends and the beach that I spent nearly every second of my free time at.

Silence drifted through the car and I decided to put my earphones back in. Iron Maiden was playing and I let out a small sigh, my love for the music was quite the contrast to my detest for my situation. I let my head fall back and rest against the back of the car seat, the music drifted into my ears and my thoughts were swirling around in a mini hurricane. I had moved schools before, but this was completely different. I had no idea how the whole American schooling system worked, I didn’t even know the difference between what ‘freshmen’ and ‘juniors’ and ‘seniors’ were, and what category did I fall into? I presumed that because it was my last year at school I must have fallen into the senior category, but maybe I was wrong.

I had been to both private and state schools so I had known nothing other than always wearing a uniform to school (all Australian schools all have uniforms), but the school I was supposed to be attending tomorrow; Belleville High School, had no uniforms. And from what I had gathered it had very little rules when it came to dress code and behavior. I mean it's not like I'm a goody-two-shows who follows the rules all the time but I was hoping that this wasn't going to turn out to be like some stereotypical school where bullying is serious issue and people are shoved into lockers. Looking down at my body I figured I would probably fit into one of the lockers, considering I was on the short side, but I’d rather not find out.

I must have drifted off because I woke to my dad lightly shaking my shoulder, “Wake up Mira, we’re here” He had the stupidest grin on his face as he spoke. I let out a deflated groan and pulled myself from the car. I looked up at the house before me. Two story painted white with a deep blue tiled roof. The garden was well maintained with Forget Me Not’s, Peony’s and hedges lining the fence. Well I always liked gardens so I suppose this is a good start. The small smile that had crept its way onto my face quickly disappeared when a ball made contact with the back of my head.

“What the fuck” I bent down and picked up the relatively grotty rubber ball, “Are you serious?” I was even more irritated now.  
“Hey, oh gosh I’m really sorry we weren’t watching what we were doing” A boy ran up behind me and spoke softly; he was extremely thin and tall with glasses. He pointed to a guy running up behind his hair a tangled mess of curls flying around his face “Ray’s a bit of an idiot sometimes” He giggled, and I offered a smile in return.  
“I heard that” The boy whose name I now know as Ray said playfully punching the boy with glasses in the arm.  
“Mikey’s the only idiot here” Ray smiled and held out his hand, I shook it “I’m Ray and this is Mikey” he glanced over to the car filled with boxes “I’m guessing you just arrived here?”  
“Oh uh yeah, my names Mirabelle, but I prefer Mira-“ I was cut off from the two boys who looked to be just a bit younger than me, maybe 16, trying to stifle their laughter. “Sorry, did I miss out on some joke or something?” I said raising an eyebrow in confusion.  
“Oh no sorry, it just, sorry, your accent, it’s awesome but funny” Mikey said still laughing.  
“Oh, erm yeah, it’s a bit different than what your used to I’m sure” I didn't know whether to be offended or not. “Here’s your ball by the way” I said tossing it to Ray.  
“Thanks, so uh are you going to Belleville High?” He smiled, Mikey was still giggling every now and again.  
“Yeah, although I’m no too sure whether I fall into the senior category or not, the American schooling system is very different to the Australian one”  
“How old are you?”  
“17, this is my last year of school”  
“That means you’re a senior, same as us” Mikey answered.  
“Mirabelle! Can you start bringing some of the boxes inside please?” I heard my mother’s voice call from somewhere inside the house behind me.  
I let out an irritated moan, “It was nice meeting you guys, I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow at school” I forced a smile, I was happy to have met them but not happy about the school part.  
“Yeah same to you, see you later Mira” Ray said before punching Mikey again and then taking off down the street, Mikey trailed close behind yelling at his friend.  
I turned to the car and grabbed two boxes that were labelled ‘Mira’, I stacked them on top of each other and walked along the stone pathway and up the front porch steps.

“Upstairs and first door on the right is your room, you’ll like it, it even has an en-suite” My dad smiled and pointed at the staircase.  
“I suppose an en-suite does sound nice” I let a small smile creep onto my face as I began to head up the stairs.

I kicked the door to my bedroom open and was pleasantly surprised, there was already a bed, desk and bookcase set up. All I really needed to do was customize it with my posters and books and other miscellaneous items. I spent the next few hours bringing up the rest of the boxes and unpacking my stuff.

Once I was happy with everything I joined my parents who were sipping on cups of coffee in the kitchen. I caught them exchanging glances every now and again and I knew something was up. Finally it got too much for me to bare, “What?” I asked putting my mug on the counter.  
“Hmm?” My mother was playing dumb.  
“What is going on, and don’t say nothing, I saw the glances” I stated.  
“Don’t be silly, we weren’t ‘glancing’ at each other, you’re paranoid Mira” my mother turned away from me collecting the mugs and placing them in the sink.  
“But I saw-“  
“Paranoid” My mother cut me off.  
“Ugh, whatever, I know what I saw, I think I might go to bed” I pushed myself away from the island I was sat at.  
“We haven’t even had dinner yet” My father said looking concerned.  
“I’m not hungry” I said walking out of the kitchen.  
“Goodnight!” He called after me.  
“Yeah goodnight” I mumbled.

I showered and let the hot water pierce my pale skin; the water ran across my skin slightly black in colour from my eyeliner. I didn’t think I had that much eyeliner on, oh well. I dried my hair and body, pulled on my batman pyjamas and slid into bed. My mind was inundated with a thousand different scenarios about what would happen tomorrow. Some good, some bad and some that were so horrible I had managed to completely terrify myself about going back to school ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

The lurid morning sun invaded my room and my eyes as they fluttered open. It would have been a nice scene to wake up to, the birds singing outside my window and sun shining brightly, however there was the constant repetitive buzzing of my alarm and that fact that it was the first day of school that ruined any beauty the morning held.

I pulled myself up and stretched before slinking over to my closet, I probably should have picked something out last night. I rummaged through the black and occasional burst of colour before deciding on a pair of skinny jeans, Pierce the Veil shirt and converses. I turned my head to clock on the wall and checked the time, 8:10am, 20minutes before I had to leave to walk to school that was apparently ‘just around the corner’ according to my dad and Google maps. I decided to straighten my hair and put on some eyeliner and foundation, may as well put in a little bit of effort for my first day. I grabbed my denim shoulder bag and shoved a sketchbook and notebook in along with some pens and pencils. I was just about to leave my room when I remembered my phone that was on charge on my desk. I quickly ran over, ripped it off the charger and threw it in my bag.

I flew down the stairs and found my parents in the kitchen, this was unusual to say the least, usually there at work by now or heading out the door for work.  
“Morning sweetie” My mother smiled and placed a plate of pancakes in front of me.  
“Pancakes! Awesome” I began shovelling them in the sweetness of the golden syrup sticking to my lips and coating my tongue. My father smiled and sipped on his coffee as he read what looked like the local newspaper.  
“Excited about today?” He asked looking over the top of his glasses at me.  
I place the fork on the now empty plate and looked at him with zero expression on my face “Do you want the truth or an elaborate lie?”  
“Elaborate lie”  
“Oh, well I cannot wait to get there and meet everyone and see my new school, I am beyond excited!” I almost sang my voice high and reeking of sarcasm.  
“I’m glad to hear it” My dad said going along with the sarcasm and continuing to read the newspaper.  
I looked up at the clock that was perched on the wall, 8:35am, well if I don’t leave now I’ll be late and that might turn this horrible day into a complete nightmare.  
“I suppose I’ll see you later, bye” I said sweeping my legs around and hopping off the barstool before pushing it closer to the island. My mother embraced me in a warm hug “Have fun” she beamed. I turned and left the kitchen and house without another word. Fun, have fun. She was kidding right?

I walked along the front path and out onto the footpath, a cool wind whipped at my face, although it was the end of summer for some reason it was coldish. That’s another thing I would have to get used to, starting the school year in September rather than the end of January. I kept my head down and continued to force my feet forward the school was supposed to be a 10minute walk, that’s what dad had said, I sure hoped he was right. I was just seconds from hitting the play button on my phone ready to blast my music when I heard a slightly familiar voice calling my name. “Hey! Mira!” I turned to see Mikey running up to me. “Oh hey Mikey, you live around here?” I sucked at small talk.  
“Yeah, I live across the road from you actually” He smiled and shoved his hands into his jacket pocket. I’d only realised we’d stopped walking when he motioned his hand forward “We should probably keep going, don’t want to be late right?”  
“Yeah, probably not the best thing to do on your first day” I forced a small laugh.  
“You are really not looking forward to today huh?” Mikey looked over at me, a concerned smile on his face.  
“Am I that obvious?”  
“Yep”  
I let out a long sigh, “Well I suppose, it’s just that this is kinda huge, you know? I mean sure I’ve changed schools before but this is a whole new country, new system, new everything really, I mean I’m still trying to get used to walking to school in jeans” My voice cracked a little as I spoke. “I suppose to put it simply, I’m freaking terrified”  
Mikey stopped and put his hands on my shoulders before pulling me into a hug. “Look at the bright side, at least you know someone” He said pointing at himself, “and you know Ray, so it’s not like you’ll be alone”  
I let out a small laugh “thanks Mikey, I suppose you’re right, it could be worse”  
“That’s the spirit, now come on we’re nearly there” He pulled me forward and almost ran the rest of the way until the school building came into view. We walked together slowly through the parking lot. I craned my neck upwards to take in the building before me and examined the kids that shot me deadly looks or at least I that’s what I thought they were doing; killing me with their gaze.

“Mikes!” Ray appeared out of an old beat up mustang that blew smoke. Mikey held up a hand and waved is vigorously, “Ray! Sweet car, wait, why didn’t you pick me up and drive me!?” his smiled turned into a pout.  
“Sorry Mikes, I was already late when mum and dad surprised me with this baby” Ray ran his hand along the hood of the car lovingly.  
Ray was too engrossed with his car to notice me standing behind Mikey and I thought considering these guys were most likely going to be the only friends I was going to have, I would have to crawl out of my shell of silence.  
“Morning Ray, that sure is quite the car” I tried to look as genuinely interested as possible, I don’t think it worked though.  
“Oh hey Mira, I didn’t even see you and thanks” He smiled and pulled himself away from the car.  
Mikey looked down at his watch, “Oh shit the bell's about to go, I’d better get you to the front office so you can get your timetable and locker and all that stuff”  
I followed Mikey through the parking lot and tried to not make eye contact with anyone, Ray obviously sensing my discomfort tried to make the situation better, “Look I’m not gonna lie, the people here are, well they’re shitheads, but just don’t worry about them”  
I let out a small giggle “Thanks Ray”  
Well at least he was honest. It's better than him trying to sugar coat the truth and tell me that they were all really nice people deep down.


	3. Chapter 3

Within no time we were at the front office, Mikey was talking to an older lady with glasses and Ray had took off down the hallway saying he needed to get to class early. The lady behind the counter with the glasses looked at me before smiling “Welcome to Belleville High Mirabelle, here is your timetable, your locker number and Mikey I presume will be your guide for the day”  
“Thanks” I swept the documents off the counter and examined them while mindlessly following Mikey through the halls. He peeked over my shoulder every now and again taking a look at my schedule.  
“Your locker is next Ray and mine’s and from looking at your timetable we have a fair few classes together” Mikey beamed before stopping and pointing at a blue metal locker “This is yours”

After dumping some of my stuff in my locker we moved on and examined my first class for the day, Biology which Mikey and I had together. To say walking into the classroom was awkward would be a phenomenal understatement, the noise from the class could be heard halfway down the hallway and the second I stepped through the door you could have heard a pin drop. 20 pairs of eyes examined me as I followed Mikey to the back of the classroom and took a seat. A few whispers were shared and a couple of girls snickered. How typical. The teacher at the front introduced himself and began with the lesson but I was too busy scribbling in my sketchbook to care. I figured Mikey must have been relatively intellectual as he took notes non-stop throughout the whole lesson and nearly filled two pages. “You really must like science” I said eyeing over his notes.  
His cheeks flushed a light shade of red, “Oh, uh yeah I suppose, I just really want to finish high school with at least half decent marks, I might be eligible for a scholarship if I do well enough”  
“I suppose it’s important to have goals right?” I said slightly enthusiastically.  
He just smiled in return. The droning sound of the bell rang through the classroom and everyone shot out of their seats and scurried out the door. “I’m really sorry Mira, I’d like take you to your next class but my English teacher is unstable and she’s, let’s say dangerous, if you’re late to class, sorry” Mikey spoke quickly as he followed the crowd and disappeared out the door. “But-, ugh, fantastic” I moaned; now I would have to somehow find out where Dramatic Arts, as my timetable stated I had, was.

I wandered through the empty halls looking for the classroom but with no avail, nearly 10 minutes had passed and I asked the odd student that was aimlessly walking the halls where the classroom was and got either a dirty look or was ignored completely.  
“This is bullshit” I muttered to myself kicking at the floor and leaving a scuff mark.  
The next thing I knew I went flying backwards and landed flat on my back, my head smacking against the hard linoleum floor. Papers fluttered around slowly making their way to the ground and what looked like mine and someone else’s books were strewn across the hallway. I propped myself up on my elbows, the back of my head was throbbing and my vision was still a little fuzzy. I saw a figure scuttle around collecting the paper and books that were surrounding me, it looked to be male but I couldn’t be sure.  
“Oh shit, I am so sorry, I was running and not watching where I was going, are you okay? How’s your head?” the smallish boy couldn’t stay still, he bit at his fingernails and tried to help me stand whilst still picking up pieces of paper all at once.

Once I was on my feet and my vision was back to normal I had the chance to take in the hyperactive individual before me. He was shorter than me but not by much, lip piercing, ear piercings, unusually shiny black hair and from the small glimpse of his hand I had whilst he helped me up I could tell he had tattoos.  
“No, its fine, my head it, well it hurts but I’ve had worse” I laughed a little trying to make him feel a bit better.  
“My names Frank, say, I haven’t seen you before and from your accent I can tell you’re certainly not from around here” He smiled and held a hand out to me, I shook it politely.  
“I’m Mirabelle, but I prefer Mira, and yeah I just moved here from Australia”. We stood in a slightly awkward silence for a moment before I remembered I was supposed to be looking for my class, “Hey Frank you wouldn’t happen to know where dramatic arts is, I’ve been looking everywhere but I can’t seem to find it”  
“Dramatic arts, I was just heading there!” He seemed to brighten up even more, if that was possible for his giddy little frame, “Speaking of which we are probably looking at getting dentition considering we’re nearly fifteen minutes late”.  
With that we began to head down the hallway together Frank continuing to talk, “Apparently there is a new teacher taking over dramatic arts and music, the last few teachers have always been woman in their 60’s who hate children and they usually never last long”  
“Well it should be interesting to say the least then, huh?” I smiled, although I wasn't happy about it.  
“So how come you’re here in Jersey?” Frank inquired.  
“My parents, the law firm they worked for closed its Australian offices, so my parents, being workaholics, decided to follow and now here I am, in good old New Jersey” I spoke nonchalantly. Frank didn’t seem to have an any more to say and just nodded his head.  
“This is our classroom here” he motioned his hands towards a bright red door; looking around the area seemed familiar and realised it was right next to my locker.  
“Well at least I won’t forget where it is, my locker is right next to it”  
“I suppose that’s convenient, but we best get in there before we earn a weeks’ worth of detention”

I let Frank go first, following closely behind. Again the awkwardness was nearly indescribable, everyone staring, a few comments here and there, I didn’t even notice the teacher until he stood and glared at us. He had untamed black hair framing his feminine yet manly face and was wearing a waistcoat and black jean combination. He would have been in his early 20’s, 25 at the absolute most. I must admit due to his age and looks he was a lot less intimidating, that was until he spoke. “And why exactly are you the pair of you nearly 20minutes late to my class?”  
Now don’t get me wrong he had a sweet voice but it scared me nonetheless, especially when the sweetness was laced with sour.  
“We uh-“I didn’t get to finish before Frank began,  
“It’s her first day, she got a little lost, I was helping her find her way”  
“Names?” The teacher said getting out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket.  
“Frank Iero” Frank spoke quickly. The teacher scribbled something down then raised an eyebrow at me.  
“Uh, Mirabelle Parker” I forced myself to speak.  
“Well Frank Iero and Mirabelle Parker, I’ll see you after school for the next week, now take a seat” He smiled a toothy grin before turning away from us and heading back to his desk.  
Wow this guy sure was an ass; here I was thinking that him, being young and all, would just let us off easy but nope. Dramatic Arts sure was going to be quite the subject and according to Frank he’s taking music too, great, the fun continues.

Frank and I took the two seats left at the back of the room and sat in silence. Frank threw me a few glances before whispering, “Well I was not expecting him to be the teacher or to be so grumpy” I nodded in agreement before my attention was drawn to the man at the front of the room clapping his hands together.  
“Right, so I am your new teacher for Dramatic Arts and I’ll also be taking music, but whether or not that applies to any of you I don’t know, either way my name is Mr Way” He began to pace across the front of the room as he spoke, “Some of you are probably wondering why it’s called dramatic arts, and the answer is in the title really, we will be doing both drama and art, so for example you’ll working on performance pieces and also doing some sketching and painting and all that kind of stuff, okay so how about we just get right into it and start with some sketching, there is no theme or requirement, just draw whatever you like and at the end of the class leave the sketches on my desk on your way out” Mr Way grinned before taking a seat behind his desk.  
“Apart from giving us detention he’s seems like and alright guy” Frank whispered as I pulled out my sketchbook and a pencil.  
“I suppose, but still a week’s detention that’s a tad excessive” I said idly scratching away at the paper before me.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the class was served in silence and I had absolutely no idea what I was drawing, I took a few peeks at Frank’s sketch during the lesson and it was pretty good. He had drawn a guy shredding on guitar in the middle of this empty arena and he was surrounded by a microphone, another guitar, bass, drum kit and piano all floating mid-air and seemingly playing themselves. Looking down at my picture it took me a second to realise what I had drawn, there was a hand emerging from water with half of the skin on the hand tearing away exposing flesh and bone, the water around the hand was clearly discoloured and other body parts were floating in the distance all with the same half torn away half intact skin. I’d never drawn anything so graphic before but I was quite impressed with it.

The bell screamed throughout the classroom causing a few people to jump in their seats. I quickly scribbled my name at the bottom of the page before collecting the rest of items from the desk. Frank noticing my drawing quickly grabbed it and held it out before him, “Shit dude, this is awesome, I’m guessing you’re a horror fan?”  
“Yeah, just a little I suppose and thanks but it’s not really that good, yours is much better, I’m guessing you’re a music fan?” I smiled copying his words and taking my drawing back. Frank just nodded his head vigorously, “I sure am”.  
The classroom was empty when we made it to Mr Way’s desk and placed out artworks in front of him, he eyed the pair of us with a smug smile “Don’t forget about this afternoon you two, I expect to see you here”.  
He was beginning to piss me off now with his smugness, “Forget about detention? Now why would we let a thing like that happen, we wouldn’t want to miss out of the riveting experience of sitting in silence in a classroom after school” I said coldly, sarcasm coating every word.  
Mr Way’s smile just grew wider, “I’m glad to hear it”.  
If he wasn’t a teacher I probably would have cursed at him but instead I turned and left mumbling profanities under my breath. I walked out of the classroom to find Mikey and Ray standing at my locker, “Hey guys” I chimed walking up next to them. Mikey and Ray looked over at me before smiling in return, “Hey Mira, Frank? Hey man how’s it going?” Ray said hugging Frank stood next to me.  
“Ray, Mikes, you guys know Mira?” Frank pulled out of the hug and looked at little confused.  
“Yeah she lives across the road from me and Ray may have hit her with a ball yesterday” Mikey giggled a little, obviously picturing the scene in his head. The rest of us laughed along too, I suppose it was pretty funny.

Frank spoke up after we finished laughing and held onto his stomach, “Let’s go grab something to eat, I’m starving”. We all nodded in agreement and headed to the cafeteria. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly, I had either Mikey, Ray or Frank in each of my classes so I didn’t get lost and it wasn’t as awkward when I arrived.

I had taken my time at the end of the day walking back to my locker. The halls were crawling with students all rushing to get to their lockers and go home as quick as possible so I couldn’t really go anywhere fast even if I wanted to. And the fact that I had detention may have also encouraged me to go that little bit slower. I found Mikey leaning against my locker when I went to gather my things, “Hey Mikey, whatcha doing?”  
“Man you take forever, I was waiting to see if you wanted to walk home considering I don’t think you really know the way” He said sweeping his backpack up off the ground and slung it over his shoulder.  
“Believe me I’d love to, but my ass of a teacher gave Frank and I detention for a week because we were late to class” I said slamming my locker door shut making Mikey jump a little.  
“Oh, well that sucks, I guess I’ll head home then, here take this” He handed me a piece of paper, “It’s my mobile number, just in case you get lost on your way home” Mikey smirked before strolling down the hallway. I quickly pulled out my phone and punched in the number adding Mikey to my contacts before heading to detention. I pushed open the red door and let it slam close behind me. I looked around to find Frank sitting at one of the front row desks his eyes wide, the slamming of the door must have startled him, while Mr Way was reclining on his chair at the front of the room. He raised an eye brow at me as plonked myself down next to Frank.  
“So what’s the deal here, like what are we supposed to be doing exactly?” I spoke nonchalantly and tried to make eye contact with both Mr Way and Frank. Frank shrugged, “Fucked if I know, I’ve never had detention before”  
“Well with that kind of language you’ll find yourself with a whole lot more” Mr Way joined in on the conversation and leaned forward on his desk, “So todays your first day Mirabelle? Not off to the best start”  
“To be completely honest it’s not like I want to be here, I’d much rather be at the beach soaking up the Australian sun” I closed my eyes to picture myself lying on the beach the sea air running its fingers through my hair. My thoughts we’re interrupted by Mr Way, “Well that explains your accent and I suppose it touches on the inspiration behind your sketch you did during class”  
“You actually looked at them?” I asked in slight disbelief.  
“Of course I looked at them, I wanted to get a feel for everyone’s skill level and you’d be surprised at how much of an insight you can gain into a person by looking at their art”  
“What insight did you gain from mine” Frank leaned forward on his desk.  
“Well” Mr Way cleared his throat, “You obviously are a guitarist and have a passion for music that was pretty explicit, but I got the feeling that the instruments playing themselves was a representation for a band that you want but that you need musicians for” He smiled as he watched Franks eyes widen.  
“Damn you’re good, I didn’t think you’d get that” Frank smiled an ear to ear grin.  
“Look you two are both obviously very talented artists and I’m guessing mostly good kids and I’m not exactly thrilled about giving you detention, especially a weeks’ worth but I don’t want you guys to feel you can get any with anything just because I’m a younger teacher, and I suppose looking on the bright side it will give me a chance to get to know the pair of you” Mr Way stood and walked to one of the cupboards that lined the wall. He flung open the door and pulled out and easel and canvas, he spoke as he carried it to the front of the room “So what I’m saying is that Frank if you want to bring your guitar in and play you can or Mirabelle if you want to draw or paint or whatever then go for it”  
“Rad” Frank said pulling out his phone and putting his earphones and tapping away to the beat of whatever he was listening to.

I watched Mr Way sceptically as he began to delicately glide a paintbrush over the canvas in front of him. Why all of sudden was he being so friendly after he was clearly pissed at us this morning I was unaware, but I was rather talented with prying for information in a stealthy manner, so I planned to put my skills to work, over time of course. “See anything interesting?” Mr Way said quietly and not looking away from his canvas. I was snapped back into reality. How long was I staring at him? Talk about awkward. I shook my head and looked over at Frank who was face down on the desk. I nudged him playfully, “Dude entertain me, I’m bored” I whined.  
He pulled out his earphones and looked up at me, “Entertain you? How?”  
“Oh I don’t know you could dance around whilst performing one of Juliet’s’ monologues from Romeo and Juliet” I laughed as the mental image played in my mind. Frank soon joined in on the laughter, “I’ve never even read Romeo and Juliet, I don’t know what she rambles on about”  
“She pretty much just complains about everything, typical teenage girl who is head over heels in love with someone she just met” I smirked and winked at him. Frank flicked his head back and held his hand to his forehead dramatically before putting on his feminine voice, “Oh Romeo, how I love you so”  
This caused me to completely burst out in uncontrollable laugher and Frank was quick to follow. We kept laughing until I had to stop because not only was I crying but my stomach was killing me. I wiped away the tears to see Mr Way grinning like crazy obviously trying to hold back laugher but failing miserably. “Well if we do a school play this year Frank, at least I know who to pick for the lead female role”  
Frank stood up and curtsied, “How kind of you good Sir, it would be my absolute pleasure.” This caused us all to begin laughing again. By the time we had all regained our composer Mr Way sent us both home saying that we’d been there for long enough and that he was in pain from laughing so much.

Just as Mikey had predicted I got lost on the way home and had to call him to come and pick me up. He took nearly half an hour before he finally arrived to pick me up. I quickly threw open the car door and slid in, “I didn’t think I had wandered that far away” I said pulling my seatbelt across the front of my body and hearing it click.  
“Sorry my brother took his sweet time getting home and I had to borrow his car” Mikey smiled apologetically.  
“Thanks Mikes, I suppose next time I’ll take a map with me”  
“You can just walk home with me until you figure out the way” The engine roared to life and we began to drive as he spoke.  
“Detention for a week, remember?”  
“Oh yeah, man your teacher sure is an ass”  
I laughed to myself replaying the afternoon’s events in my head, “Just a little bit”.


	5. Chapter 5

I stood and tapped my foot impatiently outside the boy’s locker room in the gym, I was waiting for Frank to get changed from 6th period gym so we could go to detention together. Mr Way was a good guy but I just didn’t want to be alone with him, he gave me the creeps. I had caught him giving me a very unnerving look during dramatic arts this morning and he topped it off with a smirk when I made eye contact with him. It wasn’t a mischievous look more of a possessive or “I’m planning something” kind of look. Creepy nonetheless.

I sighed and looked down at my watch, I’d been waiting for 10 minutes, how long can it possibly take to get changed, I mean it’s not like he had to put on make-up or brush his hair. Maybe he did put on make-up? That would explain why his skin was always so smooth and perfect not one blemish or mark. My thoughts were interrupted as I hear a loud crash and the word “faggot” come from the change room. I left my better judgment behind and barged into the change rooms, “Frank!?” I called. Upon hearing another loud crash I ran and and found Frank being pinned against a locker by what appeared to be a football player or did they call them jocks? I don’t know but I have bigger issues to deal with right now. The bigger guy looked familiar, he was in our dramatic arts class! Tyler his name was, he always sat with this blonde cheerleader and had gotten into an argument, or ‘heated discussion’ this morning with Mr Way in the parking lot.

\--Flashback--  
I had arrived early at school so I could catch up on some homework, I was just about to turn into the parking lot when I heard raised voices. Being the curious individual I am, I snuck behind a hedge and poked a little hole through the leaves watching the scene before me.  
“What did you say to me!?” Tyler snapped at Mr Way.  
“I said that maybe if you put a little more attention into your work rather than football I would be able to give better grades! You have talent you’re just not applying it” My Way shot back, obviously pissed but still keeping his teacher composure.  
“Listen here, I need good grades in every subject to get my scholarship! I only chose dramatic arts because it’s a bullshit subject that is easy marks!”  
“Well I am sorry to disappoint but dramatic arts is not a bullshit subject that is easy marks, you have to earn your marks and with the work you are presenting me you are not earning the good grades you seem to need so desperately, also I suggest you think about transferring classes I don’t want students that don’t care about drama or the arts in my classroom”  
“I-“ Mr way cut Tyler off before he could say anything more, “Also you’ve earned yourself a detention for swearing, now I have things I need to attend too” Mr Way walked off leaving Tyler red face and completely enraged.  
\-- End Flashback—

I was jolted once again from my thoughts at Frank’s head came in contact with the locker. Blood shot from his nose upon impact and smeared all over the locker and the rest of his face.  
“Faggot!” Tyler jaunted smiling at his handy work.  
“Hey! Get your fucking hands off him!” I yelled clenching my fists.  
“Who’s this? Your little whore?” Tyler flipped Frank around holding him by his neck.  
“She’s not a whore” Frank spat back. Tyler responded by punching Frank square in the jaw. More blood dribbled from Franks nose. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t take on Tyler alone but I could try right? I stormed up behind him and positioned myself before launching my foot into his groin. Tyler clutched his manhood and bent over groaning in pain. I instantly regretted it, I mean I helped Frank but I was going to pay for this. I decided why not go out in style, like they do in the movies.  
I grabbed Tyler’s hair and growled in his ear, “Touch him again and I’ll break your fucking neck” Tyler scurried away threatening Frank and I, telling us we would regret what I just did.  
I rushed over to Frank trying to determine the amount of damage.  
“I don’t think it’s broken” He said lightly tapping his nose.  
I pulled a tissue out of my pocket and handed it to him, “Here you’ve got blood, kinda everywhere”  
“thanks Mira, but you really shouldn’t have this isn’t going to end well for either of us” He wiped away the blood from his cheeks and then placed the tissue on his nose to try and catch the blood that still flowed.  
“We’ll figure something out in detention, come one lets go” I felt sick, I knew Frank was right. We were screwed.

Mr Way was just about to start yelling at us as we stumbled into detention before he saw Frank’s face, “Why are you- Frank? What happened to your face?”  
“Ty-“ I started.  
“Dodgeball, I just had gym, we were playing dodgeball, I’m not very good at it as you can see” Frank cut me off and I looked at him surprised and confused. Mr Way didn’t look impressed and just motioned for us to sit. I waited until he was too caught up in his painting before I spoke to Frank.  
“Why didn’t you let me tell him?” I whispered.  
“Because then he’ll tell the principal and they call Tyler in and talk to him about it and he’ll just beat me up even more” Frank put his pencil down and stopped sketching.  
“Why did he beat you up in the first place?”  
“Tyler has always had it out for me, and I have no idea why, but it’s been good for ages he hasn’t even shoved me in a locker in weeks, that was of course until this afternoon”  
“What an asshole, why don’t you knock him flat?”  
“He’s over 6ft and complete muscle do you think I’d be able to ‘knock him flat’?”  
“Well, hmm, just do what I did and get him straight in the crotch”  
“That’s such a good plan, can’t believe I’ve never thought of it before” Frank said sarcastically, looking at me with no expression.  
“Alright then Mr. Smartass, so it’s not the most bulletproof of plans but at least it’s something, better than having your face smashed into a locker” I said the last part a bit too loudly and Mr Way shot his head up.  
“Whose face was shoved into a locker?” He asked eyeing me.  
I looked at Frank and he begged me with his eyes to make up some lie, “Uh, this freshman today, some sophomore was shoving him into the lockers” I smiled awkwardly, hoping he would buy my lie.  
He just raised an eyebrow and sighed, “So I guess the bullying never stops in school huh?”  
I was taken aback by his statement, “What?”  
“The bullying, it was awful when I was at school and it seems to be just as bad still”  
“You were in school not that long ago though?” Frank stated but it came out as more of a question.  
“Oh yeah I know but I thought it might have improved, obviously not” Mr Way looked a little disappointed.

I looked at Frank solemnly and mouthed “Everything will be ok”, I don’t think he believed me though , I don’t think I believed me. Mr Way strode back and disappeared behind the canvas at the front of the room, it was the same one he was working on yesterday. I had caught a quick glimpse of it yesterday upon leaving detention, all I could pick up on was a lot of blood and girl in a pink dress before Mr Way blocked me from being able to see anymore. He had given me a stern look and I had hurried out of the room a little creeped out and curious as to his choice of artwork. Maybe I should ask about it? Nah. That’s a bit invasive. Art is a personal thing sometimes, I shouldn’t pry.  
“Oh and I forgot to mention we’ll have a guest joining us this afternoon” Mr Way chirped up poking his head around from the canvas.  
“Who?” Frank and I asked in unison.  
“Tyler Sebastian” Mr Way answered. I heard Frank gulp and his body tense beside me.  
“W-why” Frank stuttered.  
Mr Way thought about his answer for a moment, “Uh, there was an incident this morning”.  
Of course - the argument I had witnessed from my stealthy hiding place (that wasn’t really that stealthy). I was dragged away from my thoughts when I heard the door fly open and hit the wall. Tyler barged into the room his face painted with one emotion; completely pissed off. Frank recoiled and shifted closer to me, and I did the same shifting closer to him.  
“So nice of you to join us Tyler, although you’re late and have earned yourself another detention, same time, same place” Mr Way’s face was hidden by the canvas but you could tell he was smirking and was very pleased with himself.

Tyler was seconds away from exploding in a fit of anger but stopped when he saw the two of us sitting together completely terrified but trying to hide the fact. Tyler sauntered to the back of the room glaring at us as he passed. All I could do was hope that Mr Way didn’t leave the classroom for any reason; if he did there’d be blood and probably the death of Frank and I. However if Tyler wanted to take all three of us on he probably could and do it with ease, after all he was at least 6 foot 5 and all muscle. My stomach lurched at the thought of him throwing my body across the room, blood escaping multiple wounds and staining the white walls a deathly crimson. As bad as the scene in my head was I pulled out my sketchbook and began to draw it, every cut, scratch and bruise perfectly detailed on Frank’s, Mr Way’s and mine’s bodies.


	6. Chapter 6

Frank flew out the door quickly muttering a good bye the second Mr Way had dismissed us in an attempt to put as much distance between himself and Tyler. I couldn’t blame him, I however wasn’t so privileged, I still had no idea what way I had to go in order to get home so that meant waiting for Mikey to come and pick me up. And that meant leaving myself vulnerable to Tyler’s wrath. I decided to take my time, putting my sketchbook and pencils away into my bag painfully slowly. I kept a close eye on Tyler as he stormed out of the classroom and made sure to count the minutes he was gone before I decided to leave.

“You’re not really a "need to do things quickly'’ kind of person are you?” Mr Way said leaning against the doorframe of the classroom flicking the light switch off. The classroom darkened substantially as I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the room.  
I tapped away at my phone texting Mikey before answering him, “It depends, right now there’s nowhere I need to be in a short amount of time, so therefore I am going to take my time”  
I heard a small ‘hmm’ noise come from Mr Way.  
“What about you? You obviously don’t have anything too exciting on in the afternoons if you’re willing to sit in a classroom with Frank and I for an hour” I stated slipping my phone into my pocket.  
“Well I would be here for the extra hour whether you and Frank were joining me or not, everything I need to work on my art is here; easels, canvases, every type of paint and pencil I could ever want. So it’s not a big deal really, after you two serve your weeks’ worth of detention and presuming you won’t earn yourselves more I will still be here every afternoon for the extra hour; I enjoy the solitary quietness”  
Mr Way held open the heavy glass door that led to the front of the school and parking lot for me, I smiled “Thanks Mr Way”  
“Technically considering its outside school hours just call me Gerard, have a good afternoon Mirabelle” He said walking down the stairs jingling his keys. He made it halfway across the parking lot before stopping and realising I was seated on the stairs awaiting Mikey’s arrival. “How are you getting home?” He called across the empty parking lot.  
“I have a friend coming to pick me up” I called in return to his question.  
He had some kind of emotion cross his face that I couldn’t quite decipher, it was almost a malicious smirk mixed with concern. It, however, left as quickly as it had come and he turned on his heels and thrust himself into a black sedan before speeding out of the car park.

Well that was weird. I rested my elbows on my knees, my held head in my hands waiting for Mikey. Mr Wa- Gerard was one of the most confusing individuals I’ve ever met, completely normal and friendly one moment, than a complex enigma of facial expressions and gestures the next.

I woke up ridiculously late the next morning and didn’t even bother to brush my hair before flying down the stairs to make breakfast in under 5minutes; otherwise I would be late. The TV was monotonously droning away in the background as I poured coffee into a mug, the steam rising and coating my face in a sticky sheath. I was halfway through a yawn when something on the TV screen caught my eye. Pink dress. Blood.


	7. Chapter 7

I nearly dropped my mug in my attempt to make it to the TV as quick as possible. I grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume to hear what the reporter was saying.

“Early this morning the body of a young woman was found in a warehouse about 5 minutes out of town, the girl was found wearing a pink dress and seemed to have died from various injuries causing a major blood loss. Time of death was put between 1-2am this morning. The owner of the warehouse found the woman’s body after he went to collect some of his possessions at around 7am this morning and noticed that the door to warehouse was unlocked when he arrived, police are currently looking into the case and we will update you as we obtain more information”

Images flashed across the screen of the crime scene, a woman whose body looked mangled was strewn on the floor in a dainty pink dress, the pink however was almost melted away due to the amount of blood staining the dress. I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding. Those images, they seemed so familiar. Mr Way. His painting. His painting he never let us see. The glimpse I had gotten of it the other day. The unmistakable pink dress and copious amounts of blood.

I had decided to suss out Ray, Mikey and Frank at lunch to see if they knew anymore on the murder. I had waited until they were all sat in silence mindlessly poking and prodding at the rather awful excuse for food on their plates,  
“Uh so did you guys hear about the murder this morning?” I asked pushing my half empty plate away from my body and resting my elbows on the table.  
Ray’s head shot up and he shuffled a little closer to me before speaking, “They reckon is was the owner of the warehouse who did it, they think it was pretty suspicious that he just happens to visit the warehouse – which he hadn’t been to months – on the day the girl was murdered”

“It was probably that creepy guy that got let out from jail the other week, he’s living in the southern part of town, he got put away for indecently exposing himself and then stabbing a woman outside a nightclub a few years back” Frank leant forward into the conversation.  
“What do you reckon Mikey?” I looked over at him, he was obviously not interested in the conversation at all.

“Huh? The murder, oh uh I don’t know, probably some crazy guy” He just shrugged his shoulders. I suppose murder and mystery didn’t excite everyone, Mikey being a perfect example.

“It’s kind of creepy though, I mean from seeing the photos it looked like this guy did some serious damage, he like cut up half her body” I said shuddering. We all fell into a comfortable silence after my comment, Frank and Ray pondering on what had been said and Mikey was completely zoned out.  
My thoughts were fixated on one thing - Mr Way’s painting. Maybe it was just a coincidence? He couldn’t possibly be a murderer, no he was too nice, too teacher like, but then again I had caught him more than once with and almost murderous look on his face.

“I’ll call you when I’m done” I smiled giving Mikey a goodbye hug and waving as he walked down the hallway and out of the school.  
Just as turned to shut my locker door Frank came sliding around the corner covered in sweat and carrying his guitar case.  
“Hey Fra-“ I started.  
“Ty-Tyler, fuck run!” The smiled fell from my face at his words. I slammed my locker shut and ran the short distance to the art room door. We beat furiously on it and fumbled with the doorknob. The damn thing was locked. Where the hell was Mr Way, he never leaves the art room. He should be there. Frank quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the door. We ran full speed down the empty hallway. The sound of our shoes squeaking against the tile floor echoed around us. It reminded me a bit of horror movies with the high pitched screams they usually play in the background to help build tension. Although when you have a human representation of death chasing you down a school hallway you don’t really need to build anymore tension. Frank halted to an abrupt stop and pulled me into what I thought was a classroom. The room was completely black and I only knew where Frank was because of his heavy breathing. I took a few steps back but found myself falling backwards. There was a loud crash and few other bangs. Something was sticking into my back and causing an extreme discomfort. I squinted my eyes shut as light filled the room. Frank all of a sudden burst out into hysterics.

“What?” I questioned before looking around. I was tangled in a mess of tom hats and snare drums. I must have fallen over a drum kit in the dark. Rolling a little to try and reposition myself I found the source of the pain in my back. The wooden stool that sat behind the drum kit had almost completely lodged itself in my back. I examined the damage. Four perfect round red circles, they’ll leave some nice bruises. Frank was still laughing as he took hold of my hand and helped me to my feet.  
“We should probably fix up the drum kit, I don’t think I broke anything other than a few vertebrae” I said sarcastically.  
Frank was still holding back giggles as we picked up each of the drums and placed them in their proper positions.  
“Oh shit, detention! Dammit, he’s probably going to give us even more because we were late” Frank pushed open the door and stepped out into the hallway.  
“Well come on then” I smiled and grabbed his wrist before running down the hallway towards the art room.


	8. Chapter 8

As Frank and I stepped quietly into the room I craned my neck ever so slightly to catch of a glimpse of what Mr Way was working on. It was a different panting, no pink dress but again lots of blood. I think he had a blood fetish.

I felt Frank recoil a little and turned to see what the problem was. Tyler. Sitting at the back of the classroom, with the smuggest smile on his face one could ever imagine.  
“Late again for detention” Mr Way put down his paintbrush and stood across from us, arms crossed in front of his chest.  
“We-“ I began but stopped when Mr Way raised his hand.  
“No, no, I don’t want to know what little lie you have for me this afternoon, Tyler told me about your little afternoon happenings”  
I gritted my teeth together, “Oh really? And what exactly did Tyler say huh?”  
“More than enough, now take your seats and remain silent for the remainder of detention”  
Frank let out a defeated sigh before shuffling to his seat, I followed closely behind glaring at Tyler.  
“Oh and” I snapped my head up at Mr Way’s words, “two days detention extra for being late”  
I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles went white, Frank was no longer emotionless but was radiating equally as much anger as me. Waiting until Mr Way was too engrossed in his painting to notice, I leant over to Frank and whispered in his ear, “This has to fucking stop, Tyler will not get away with A. hurting you and B. making up bullshit”  
Frank leant over and tried to look casual while replying, “You have to place some of the blame on Mr Way for being stupid enough to believe him”  
“What did he tell him though, about us? What afternoon happenings?” I questioned seriously confused and intrigued.  
“I don’t know, I don’t even understand where in his small mind he came up with the idea” Frank smiled slightly.  
“How about we talk to Mr Way after detention, tell him what happened and why we were late in the first place”  
“No!, W-we can’t then he’ll find out about Tyler and go to the principal about it, then god knows what he and his little posse will do” Frank's eye widened, obviously he was comming up with a numerous amount of scenarios in his head; all of them bad.  
“Well I am finding out what he told Mr Way about us and okay fine I won’t mention what Tyler did, but if he does anything else then I give myself permission to break that fuckers nose”  
Frank giggled slightly at my last few words causing an angry reprimanding from Mr Way, “Do you two not understand the concept of silence?”

I rolled my eyes rather rudely before crossing my arms on the desk and resting my head. Here we go again, happy “You can call me Gerard” to “I’m a sass queen asshole grrr”. I swear this man needs to sort himself out.

After we were dismissed I made a special effort to distract Mr Way in order to get a glimpse of his painting. I planned it so that I would ‘accidently’ drop one of my books at his feet and then if he has any manners he should kindly pick it up and whilst doing so I shall have a small peek at his work. Horrible cliché plan I know but a girls got to do what a girls got to do. I stood up and quickly gathered my things in my arms genuinely struggling to carry it all and as I sauntered past Mr Way I loosened my grip on my sketch book. Thump. It hit the ground and the corner even landed on his foot. Perfect. But alas he did nothing. He just stared at me.  
“Uh, erm could you get that for me, my hands are kinda full” I said awkwardly.  
Mr Way let out a sigh and bent down to pick up the book. I took my chance. Not surprisingly there was blood and lots of it, but it was different this time. A man, tall and thin hung by his hands from the ceiling of what looked like an attic. His body covered in cuts all of then pulsating blood; the red substance dripping down and forming a puddle on the wooden floor. My eyes snapped back to Mr Way as he passed me the book. I don’t think he saw me looking.  
I shuffled a little before rearranging the contents of my hands and took the book of him, “thanks, seeya tomorrow Gerard” I smirked at the emphasis on his name, making it obvious I was just trying to irritate him.  
“Afternoon Mirabelle” He retorted doing the same with my name.

As I left the classroom and began to make my ways down the empty halls Frank passed me a look of pure guilt plastered on his face.  
“Hey Frank what are you doing? I thought you left to go home?” I asked eyeing him.  
He kept his head down and kept walking as he spoke, “I uh left my book in Mr Way’s room”. He continued to scurry away without another word. I shook my head a little in an effort to clear the confusion that was clear on my face and more importantly was clouding my mind. That was, well very weird.

I sat alone at the dinner table slowly chewing on my attempt at dinner – undercooked pesto pasta. My parents had settled back into their usual work routine which meant early mornings and late nights. It didn’t really bother me as much as it should; I preferred the solitariness and the peaceful and slightly unsettling feeling of being home alone. Giving up on the tasteless rubbery substance before me I dumped my plate into the sink. The clang it made from hitting the metal of the sink ringing throughout the house.

I threw one of my arms in the air stretching as I held the other over my mouth in an attempt to stifle a yawn. I didn’t have any homework and there wasn’t anything good on TV so I decided it was best to get bed early. I slumped up the staircase and peeled off my clothes whilst walking through my room. I made it to the shower with a trail of clothing and underwear left behind me.  
Stepping into the glass box goosebumps arose all over my body as the icy water clawed at my skin. As the water started to heat up and the steam arise coating my skin a sticky sheath, I lost myself in a mixture of thoughts and a state of being half asleep; my hands lathering soap all over my body as though they were on autopilot. Words began to drip from my lips, I was completely unaware I was singing my favorite song.  
Everybody put up your hands  
Say I don't wanna be in love  
I don't wanna be in love  
Feel the beat now  
If you've got nothing left  
Say I don't wanna be in love  
I don't wanna be in love  
(All credit goes to Good Charlotte)

SMASH! A loud shrill noise made me jump and almost slip over in the shower. I fumbled around fiddling with the dials turning the water off. I stood in silence for a moment. CRASH! More noises ran up the stairwell, through my room and into the bathroom. I quickly hopped out of the shower, dried myself and threw on an old Green Day shirt and batman pyjama pants. Slowly creeping out from the bathroom I stood in the centre of my room facing the door listening for anymore noises. I could hear what sounded like pots being tossed around. CLANG! I turned my head to the clock on the wall, 8:56pm. It was still early. Mum and dad weren’t supposed to be home for another couple hours. I slowly padded out of my room and hovered at the top of the staircase. My heart was thudding so loud in my chest I could feel it in my ears and my temples throbbed.

“Mum? Dad? Is that you?” I let my voice float down the staircase.  
All the noises stopped. Silence hung in the air, not a peaceful silence, a terrifying stomach wrenching silence. A voice in the back of my head told me to run, to scream, to get out of the house. But I couldn’t. Instead like a mindless zombie I descended the stairs each one creaking ever so slightly under my weight. I stopped at the bottom of the staircase and called for my parents again, my voice slicing through the silence, “Mum…Dad”.  
My whole body froze at the sound of glass shattering. My legs went stiff but turned to jelly at the same time. My breathing quickened but I felt like I was suffocating. I forced my feet towards the kitchen. Each step slow and stiff. I nearly passed out when I reached the kitchen. I let go of a breath I didn’t realise I had been holding as my eyes were blown wide taking in the sight before me.


	9. Chapter 9

Pans, plate, mugs and cutlery were strewn across the room. Glassware was smashed and every cupboard door was swung wide open. The window over the sink was smashed to oblivion, little pieces of glass adorning the countertops reflecting the light at a hundred angles. I made my way over the window trying to avoid getting glass lodged into my feet. Upon inspection of the shattered window there was an unmistakable substance coating the edges of the broken away glass. I hovered my index finger over the edge of the glass before lightly placing it on the substance. It was opaque and black. Icy to the touch. And sticky. It stuck to my skin and began to hang a little, gravity causing it to drip and land on the floor.  
“What the fu-“ I murmured not quite finishing off my sentence while washing the substance off my hands.

I worked my way across the kitchen dodging the mess that littered nearly every inch of the tiled floor before reaching the cupboard that held the broom. The glass and porcelain from the plates scraped across the tiles causing a cursed screeching noise with every sweeping stroke as I tried to clean up as much of the mess as possible. I had no idea what had caused this or more importantly who. Someone was in the house. They had to be. Kitchens just don’t practically destroy themselves. But the black substance on the window, what was it, what is it? I tried to remove all the outlandish hypothesis’ that were springing to mind. Someone was in my house. Someone was in my house while I was showering. To say I was terrified was an understatement and a large one at that. Especially with the crime scenes of the recent murders flashing in my mind. Maybe it was the killer. Had I disturbed them? Was that why they fled? But why not just rip me to shreds or something? Why run? Maybe it wasn’t a person? Could it be…No, no that’s just stupid. I am thinking about it way too much. Either way there was no way sleep was going to come easy now.

After cleaning as much of the mess as I could manage in the kitchen I trudged back up the stairs and flopped onto the mattress of my bed. My body sunk deep into the mattress and I let the doona slide over my body as I shuffled into a comfy position. Comfy or not I was still wide awake. I stretched my arm over to my bedside table not wanting to leave the warm blanket cocoon I was in and grabbed Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. I was re-reading it for the like the billionth time, it was, in my eyes, one of the best books ever written and I just couldn’t get enough of it.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

My legs jolted in the air in panic as the upper half of my body scrambled to the alarm clock to shut it off causing me to fall out of the bed completely. The crispness of the morning air hit my skin and I shivered a little scrambling to get a jumper from my dresser.  
I heard a faint knock at my door before my mother’s voice came through the wood, “Are you alright in there honey?”  
“Uh, yeah I just tripped that’s all” I lied not willing to admit I fell out of bed.  
“Oh okay, your father and I are off to work we might see you tonight”  
“Alright oh and I forgot to tell you about the window, sorry I fell asleep before you got home”  
The door was flung open at this and I saw my mother in a navy pantsuit with glossy black heels, her hair was done neatly and she had bright red lipstick and mascara on, “Window? What window?”  
“The one in the kitchen above the sink, I swear I didn’t do anything, I was in the shower and I heard a bunch of noises downstairs and when I went to have a look the kitchen was trashed and the window was smashed”  
My mother looked at me as if I had two heads.  
“What?” I asked her as though the answer was obvious.  
“Are you feeling okay Mira?”  
“Uh yeah why?”  
“Well the window in the kitchen isn’t broken nor is anything else in the kitchen” She said confusion evident on her face.  
I stood dumbfounded, what the hell is going on? “No, it is, I- I cleaned up as much of the mess I could, the window was smashed and half of the plates and cups were broken too” I rambled, hysterics become evident in my voice.  
“Ssshh honey, did you hit your head when you tripped before?” My mother came to my side comfortingly rubbing my back.  
“I-what no, here I’ll show you!” I grabbed my mother by the wrist maybe a little too harshly and pulled her down the stairs into the kitchen. My jaw hung loose and my eyes widened in disbelief. The window was fine, not one scratch or mark. I ran over to the garbage bin and looked inside. Empty. None of the glass I had cleaned and put in there was to be found. “Bu-but I swear” I stuttered.  
“You must have dreamt it or thought you saw it when you tripped this morning, maybe you hit your head, just calm down sweetheart, you don’t have to go to school if you done feel up to it” She cooed pushing some stray hairs that had fallen onto her face behind her ear.  
“I, no, I’m – I’m fine just uh tired I guess, you’re probably right maybe I did hit my head” I felt my bottom lip tremble a little, I didn’t hit my head, I wasn’t crazy, something crazy is going on though. “You best be getting to work, don’t want you and dad to be late” I smiled and leant into my mother hugging her.  
She pulled back from the hug and looked at me, “Take it easy yeah? Bye sweetie” With that she dashed out the door to join my father whom I presumed must have been waiting for her in the car.

I let out a long breath once I was alone and looked around the kitchen. This was just too weird. I returned upstairs to my bedroom to get ready school. I threw on a navy blue tee and some rather tatty grey jeans along with my jumper. I slung my shoulder bag on and began to text Mikey, as I did every morning, asking if he wanted to walk to school. Within seconds I heard a knock on my front door. Man that boy was efficient. I hopped down the stairs and practically skipped to the front door.  
“Hey Mikes” I smiled pulling back the wooden door. Mikey perked up a little upon meeting my gaze.  
“Morning Mira, you wanna start heading to school?”  
I nodded still smiling and stepped out into the crisp morning air. I pulled the door shut behind me and checked it was locked.

Mikey and I walked in silence for a moment, I thought about telling him what happened last night but I didn’t want him thinking I was crazy like my mother did. I decided screw it, I had to tell him.  
I spilled my guts about everything that happened even the creepy black substance part that sounded like it came from some science fiction film. Mikey never made eye contact with me the whole time I spoke. That’s it, he thinks I’m crazy.

“That’s uh, well, you sure you didn’t hit your head?” He stumbled over his words a little.  
“Mikey!” I whined, “You’re supposed to be on my side here, and if you think it’s weird how do you think I feel, one moment my kitchen is trashed with a smashed window and then the next morning it’s as if nothing even happened, the worst part is that someone was in the house, they could have stolen something or worse” I shuddered at the thought of someone creeping around the house and what they could do.

Mikey threw his arm over my shoulders, “Look I understand how this has shaken you but it’s also a huge possibility that you just dreamt it, a really vivid dream, windows just don’t repair themselves so maybe your mum was right, maybe you’re not getting enough sleep”  
I understood why Mikey didn’t believe me, I probably wouldn’t believe me either but it still hurt that he thought I was just dreaming. It wasn’t a dream, I know it wasn't.


	10. Chapter 10

Lunch finally rolled around after what seemed like an eternity of pure boredom. I dumped my books at my locker and checked my phone to see if Frank had text me. I saw him for only a split second this morning and he looked like someone had tried to kill him. His face was white as a ghost and his hair and clothing was a complete mess, I had asked him what was wrong but he just said he’d text me and we would talk later. I slammed my locker shut, the metal sending a shrill call down the nearly empty hallways.

“You alright there, Mira?” Ray appeared out of nowhere cocking an eyebrow at the slamming of my locker.  
“Oh uh yeah, you haven’t seen Frank by any chance?” I asked hoping to god he had, I was really concerned about his welfare for some reason. Something just didn’t feel right.  
“Uh no sorry, but I just wanted to ask you to tell Mikey that I’m working on some stuff for music so I won’t be at lunch” Ray smiled at me.  
“Yeah sure thing” I returned the smile before Ray headed off down the hall with a noticeable spring in his step sending the mass of curls on his head bobbing up and down.

I turned on my heel and headed in the opposite direction of Ray, towards the large glass doors that lead to the outdoor area of the school. The breeze hit me the second I stepped outside. I retracted my hands into the sleeves of my hoodie and looked around for Mikey and hopefully Frank. My eyes locked on Mikey consoling a distressed Frank underneath a tree across the sporting field. I’m not sure why but my legs decided to sprint across the field. I fell down to my knees in front of Mikey and Frank puffing.

“Are-you-guy-guys-o-ok-okay?” I struggled to get enough air in my lungs as I spoke.  
“Last nigh-“ Frank began but was cut off by Mikey.  
“Wait! No, Frank just hold on a minute, I uh need to apologise first” Mikey scratched the back of his head awkwardly before making eye contact with me, “I, uh, I’m sorry about not believing you this morning”  
“Huh? I mean thanks but what’s this got to do with anything?” My eyes darted between the pair. I was so confused and I was sure it was evident on my face.  
“Better tell her Frank” Mikey smiled at the small boy who sat next to him  
.  
“Last night, I was in the shower and I heard some noises coming from the kitchen, I thought it could have been one of my parents so I didn’t pay much attention, but then I heard noises from inside the bathroom like someone was going through the cabinets and knocking over bottles and whatnot. I didn’t see the silhouette of anyone as I was in the shower at the time, but when I got out the medicine cabinet was wide open and all the bottles were strewn across the floor and the bathroom door was wide open even though I had locked it. I asked my parents and they told me they hadn’t been upstairs all evening. I was pretty freaked out at this point but I went to bed and didn’t think too much of it.” Frank stammered a bit at this point, obviously not wanting to continue with his recollection.

“Come on Frank this is the most important part, you gotta tell her” Mikey cooed gently.  
“Ri-right, okay so in the middle of the night I woke up and there was a figure at the end of my bed, I instantly thought of the murders that have been happening and I was terrified I was about to get murdered by some whacko. I closed my eyes for just a second and then my bedroom window seemed to almost explode on its own , the figure was gone. But the weirdest thing is that when I turned on the light to inspect the damage there was like a black goop all over the window, I tried to rub it off but it was all sticky and thick” Frank looked down and fidgeted with his hands.

My face was one of pure shock, my jaw hung slack as I grabbed Frank’s shoulders and stared into his eyes, “Did Mikey tell you about what happened to me last night?” Frank simply nodded.  
“That’s why I apologised, I mean for you to have dreamt it or thought you saw it yeah, but when Frank told me what happened I knew you weren’t lying, this is more than a coincidence” Mikey said taking hold of Frank and I’s hands. “How about you guys stay at mine tonight, it’s Friday plus I doubt you guys will want to be home alone after what happened”  
Frank and I smiled and nodded, however the smiled soon faded from my face, “But, I don’t understand, what does it all mean? Should we go to the cops and tell them that we think someone broke into our houses? And Frank, you saw someone, like actually saw them in your room!”  
“Yeah but I have no evidence” Frank said quietly.  
“But you just said your window was broken?” Mikey raised an eyebrow at Frank.  
“Well yeah, It was, but when I woke up it was like nothing even happened. The window was fine”  
Mikey looked shocked for a moment then another burst of realisation hit him, “Mira, that’s what happened to your window right?”  
“Uh yeah, I think with that last piece of information we can assure that it’s the same person doing this, but the real question here is who and why?”

All of us fell into silence. It was obvious by our facial expressions we were trying to deduce and hypothesise all the possible suspects and reasons as to why they would do something so strangely odd. The shrill sound of the bell jolted us from our trance. We all rushed back to the school building knocking into a few kids here and there and receiving snarky comments for doing so. One girl however was most unhappy with the slight shove I gave her to get her to move.  
“Jesus watch where you’re going” She whined in a bitchy tone.  
“Maybe if you didn’t have conversations in the middle of the hallway I wouldn’t have to push past you” I snapped before heading into the dramatic arts classroom. Mikey grabbed hold of my wrist before I made in the entire way in the door.  
“Hey do you want me to drive Frank and you to my place after school?” He asked looking around at the emptying halls.  
“Uh I really do but, this is our last day of detention and I think Frank will know the way so we can just walk, he’s been to your house before right?”  
“Briefly, but yeah he knows the way”  
“Okay, well we’ll see you this afternoon, you best get to class Mikey otherwise you’ll be late and then get yourself on detention” I smiled and winked playfully at him before continuing to enter the classroom.

I looked around and spotted Frank at the back of the room scratching away at a piece of paper in front of him with a pencil. I quickly shuffled in between desks and dodged and eraser that was flying through the air before plonking myself next to him.  
“Tonight’s gonna be awesome, it will be nice to not get our minds off last night” I smiled at him, “Oh wait, what about Ray?”  
Franks’ face fell a little and he stopped drawing, “oh shit, I completely forgot, Mikey will text him I’m sure and even if he doesn’t Ray only lives around the corner”

I was about to reply when Mr Way nearly fell into the classroom through the doorway, “Sorry I’m late” He gushed removing a leather satchel from his shoulder and it on his desk. “Okay so today..”  
I tuned out as he began explaining what we had to do for the day. I watched Frank for a moment and he looked totally enthralled by Mr Way and was, wait, was he blushing? I let a smile creep onto my face and had to bite my lip to hold back giggling. Frank had it bad for Mr Way.


	11. Chapter 11

The second the shrill ring of the bell finished echoing throughout the classroom students leaped from their seats and cascaded out the door, yelling “goodbye” and “have a good weekend sir” as they went. Frank let the smile that had been etched on his face all lesson drop a little and I draped my arms over my desk and let out an irritated moan. Damn detention. Mr Way looked over at us, “I’m going to get a coffee, don’t go anywhere” he muttered before sauntering out of the room.

I raised an eyebrow at Frank, smiling mischievously “I think it’s time I had a better look at Mr Grumpy’s artwork”. I slipped out of my seat and rushed over to the cupboard that contained the canvas I was oh so desperate to have a look at. I crouched down and began to open the door.  
“Mira, I don’t think that’s a good idea, you shouldn’t go looking through other peoples artwork” Frank hovered over my crouching body.  
“Oh come on Frank, look, all I want to do is have a peek, nothing major then I’ll put it right back”  
“Why do you want to see it so bad?”  
“I, uh, I have my reasons” Should I tell him about the murders matching up with the paintings? No, well not yet. “How about if I find what I need, then I’ll tell you, sound good?”  
“But what are you looking for?”  
“I’ll tell you if I find it, now keep an eye out for Mr Way, I’m dead meat if I get caught” I shuddered at my comment, If Mr Way was behind these murders, then I would literally be dead if I was caught.  
Frank shuffled to the open door of the classroom and poked his head out. “You’re all good, for now” He said shifting his weight uncomfortably.

With that I flung the door of the cupboard open the smell of fresh paint infiltrating my nostrils. I wrapped my arms around the canvases and pulled them all out in one go. My eyes darted over each canvas, all of which were adorned with a kind of intricacy that only the best could achieve. Every detail, brush stroke and colour was perfect and perfectly placed. As I finished looking at each one I moved them back to their place in the cupboard, that was until I reached the last one. My jaw hung loose as I took in the painting. It was by far the most spectacular of them all, even though the only thing yet painted was a boy, there was no background, it was just the boy. I held the canvas up in front of me absorbed by the sight. Then it hit me. That one detail that made this painting go from stunning to stupefying. It wasn’t the tortured angst on the boys’ face. Or his cowering position. It was his jacket. The exact same jacket Mikey had been wearing to school for the past few days.

“Frank! Frank! Get here now!” I called, shuffling to my feet frantically.  
“What?” Frank said running to my side, “What? I don’t get it, what am I supposed to be looking at?”  
Should I tell him? Yes. Mikey was in danger and I needed at least the support of Frank to help me help him. After all I was accusing my teacher of murder.  
“Okay, just look at this painting here and then connect the dots” I said as I pulled out the one with the girl in the pink dress.  
Franks eyes widened at the sight of it, “Th-this, is that the crime scene from the murder?”  
I nodded.  
“B-but why is he painting this?” Frank stammered his eyes grazing over the grotesque image, “Why would he be painting crime scenes?”

I groaned and pointed to the signature and date in the corner, “This was painted on Tuesday, the girl was killed on Wednesday, get where I’m going with this?”

The colour drained from Franks face and he look like he was about to pass out, “Oh my god, you don’t think he could be the mur- No! This is crazy, he’s a teacher for fucks sake, this is, oh god”  
“There’s only one explanation, he paints these scenes, then goes and recreates them and look at this one, notice anything familiar?” I pointed to the painting of Mikey.  
“Is, is that Mikey?” Frank stammered.  
“Sure is”  
“You don’t think he’s going to you know….try something tonight do you?”  
“I don’t know, but Mikey is in danger and we have to stop Mr Way before he gets the chance to hurt him”

The clicking of dress shoes against flooring broke the both of us from our conversation. “Oh shit, hurry we have to put these back” I whispered.  
Frank and I moved quickly, frantically shoved the canvases back into the cupboard. We launched ourselves back into our seats and regained our bored composure before Mr Way made it into the classroom. I felt sick to my stomach at the sight of him and had to grab hold of the desk to stop myself from pouncing and throttling him.

Mr Way must have noticed because he smirked in my direction, “Bit tense are we, Mira?”  
I glared at him, “You have no idea” I said through gritted teeth.  
“It’s quite sad, this is our last afternoon enjoying each other’s company” Mr Way sighed sarcastically as he pulled out a canvas from the cupboard. I had made a mental note of where I placed the Mikey one and sure enough that was the one he grabbed.

As he placed it on the easel at the front of the room he spoke again, “So Frank, you seem to be in a slightly better mood than your companion”  
Frank stiffened and a shade of crimson coloured his pale cheeks, “Uh, I,” Frank turned to me unsure of what to say. I just looked at him and shrugged. “I, I’m okay” He said slowly. Nice one Frank, totally convincing.  
“Just okay? With all that stammering I would have thought you were at loss for words, any reason as to why?” Mr Way said winking at Frank.

Frank went an even brighter shade of red and didn’t answer Mr Way’s question. He just stiffened and crossed his legs. Mr way laughed a little before disappearing behind the canvas once again.  
“Frank, get a hold of yourself! What the hell was that?” I whispered, making sure Mr Way didn’t hear.  
“I don’t know okay! It’s just a lot to take in, I mean we’re in a classroom with a murder who wants to kill our best friend! Sorry for freaking out a little bit, I thought he was-No don’t worry” Frank looked down at his hands.  
“You thought he was what?” I urged Frank to continue.  
“I said don’t worry about it” Frank snapped.

Then it hit me like a tonne of bricks. The winks and suggestive comments. Frank blushing like mad every time he saw Mr Way. The way he tensed up and crossed his legs all the time in class. Oh god Frank had more than a schoolgirl crush.

Frank must have noticed my frozen expression of shock and realisation.  
“Mira! Mira!” He said snapping his fingers in front of me, “What the hell man you just completely zoned out”  
“Why did you go back to classroom the other day after detention?” I looked directly into his eyes, not letting him break the current staring contest.  
He shifted uncomfortably, “I- I told you, I had to get something I left behind”  
“Bullshit, don’t you dare lie to me Frank” I hardened my expression trying to get Frank to admit to it. He knew I was onto him and he had nowhere to run.

Franks concern soon turned to a sourness that laced his face and words. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me towards him. I could feel is breath on my ear as he spoke.  
“Look, I’ll tell you later alright, but under no circumstances are you to utter a word or you won’t have to worry about Mr Way being a murderer because I will kill you” Frank released me and sat back in his seat.  
“Damn boy, okay, that was intense” I said releasing a breath I had held back.  
“This is serious shit okay Mira, I don’t even want to tell you but you’ll end up nagging me until I give in, so this is just easier” Frank said fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie.


	12. Chapter 12

I shifted a little fixing up my shirt after Frank’s little outburst. I looked up at the clock, 3:35pm. Damn. 25 minutes to go. I couldn’t sit still and kept shuffling, all my thoughts were a mix between wanting to attack Mr Way and wipe the smug smile off his face and freaking out about Mikey’s welfare. I suppose at least if I’m here with Mr Way I know Mikey is safe.

“Right you two” Mr Way’s voice jolted me and Frank’s head shot up from the table, “What is going on? All the two of you have done is whisper and then shuffle around, it’s very distracting not to mention increasingly annoying”  
“Just itching to get out of this damned classroom and let the weekend begin” I chimed a smile plastered on my face, as he made his way toward us.  
“I’m sorry you’re not enjoying your punishment” He said sarcastically and leant against the desk in front of us.  
“I’m pretty sure we’ve been through this, but this punishment was a little heavy handed, I mean come on, it was my first day, it’s not my fault no one in this stupid school would help me out and tell me where to go” I stated folding my arms across my chest.  
“And I’m pretty sure I said that you guys could do whatever you wanted whilst here, it’s not my fault you’ve decided to sulk and complain” He retorted smiling smugly.  
“Okay you two, I think you’d better stop before this goes any further and turns into a ‘heated discussion’” Frank said using his fingers to put air quotations around ‘heated discussion’.  
“Frankie’s right, truce?” Mr Way held out a hand towards me.  
I shook it reluctantly before whipping my hand away, “Hold on a minute” I looked between Frank and Mr Way, “Frankie?”

Franks cheeks fired up and Mr Way’s eyes were blown wide with realization as to what he had just said. Caught red handed, the pair of them. Not that Frank hadn’t practically admitted it beforehand. I started laughing uncontrollably and nearly fell off my seat while holding my stomach. I had to wipe away the tears that had begun to roll down my cheeks while trying to regain my composure. Frank and Mr Way hadn’t moved, they just sat shifting their gaze from one another and then to me over and over again.

“Do I still have to tell you later, or have you got the idea?” Frank said looking sheepishly at me.  
“Frank may I remind you that not only are you underage but he’s a god damn-“ I was cut off  
“Don’t!” Frank said frantically, “You don’t know that for sure”  
“Don’t know what for sure?” Mr Way leaned forward on mine and Frank’s desk, he looked pretty pissed to say the least.  
Frank looked at me pleading not to say anything, I don’t know why, he was a killer, a cold hearted murderer.  
I let out a hefty groan before speaking. “I’m pretty sure I do know for sure what he is” I began looking directly at Mr Way, “He’s a teacher” I finished off my smile with a grin.  
I immediately felt Frank loosen up next to me. I wasn’t going to accuse Mr Way of murder, Frank was right I didn’t know for sure, although I was pretty confident with the conclusion I had drawn. Mr Way relaxed a little, his facial features not so tense, and he took a step back from our desks.  
“Okay, so he’s my teacher, but I’ll be eighteen in like two months then everything will be legal” Frank smiled up at Mr Way.  
“You’ll still be his student, you’re sick you know that, dating a student, that some messed up shit Sir” I said leaning back in my chair taking in the whole situation, “Oh and Frank we are still having the conversation later, you have a bit more explaining to do”  
“Mira! He’s not sick, he’s only a few years older than me anyways” Frank looked a little shocked and pissed at my choice of words.

I raised my hands up feigning innocence “Okay, okay, sorry, so you’re not sick, but still it’s just fucking weird, teacher dating students, its wrong and I should despise you for it but who am I to stand in the way of love”.  
I was internally strangling Frank even though my little speech had been quite convincing. Frank was dating our teacher, who was also a murderer. If Mr Way puts a hand on him I’ll make it my mission to destroy that cute little pixie nose of his.

After sitting in an awkward silence staring at the ceiling while Mr Way and Frank whispered quietly to each other on the other side of the room so I wouldn’t hear I let out a rather obnoxious snort/laugh. The pair looked at me like I was crazy and to be fair it probably sounded like I was.

“You know I was just thinking, you gave me a detention for being late to class and yet you’re dating a student so that is like 10 times worse than me and” I stood and gathered my shoulder bag and sketch book, “I’m gonna let myself leave early considering its Friday and you’re a hypocrite, come on Frank, seeya on Monday Mr Way” I smiled and grabbed Franks wrist before exiting the classroom leaving Mr Way a little dumbfounded.

Frank continued to object to my leaving and dragging him with me until we made it out of the glass doors and was hit with a burst of coldness from the outside air.  
“That was kinda rude Mira” He pouted a little and crossed his arms as we walked together along the sidewalk making our way to Mikey’s.  
“Don’t even start with me Frank, you’re dating our god damn teacher who is the prime suspect in a freaking murder” I snapped back.  
“YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” He yelled back.  
“For fucks sake Frank, open your eyes! The paintings? There pretty good indicators that he did it!” I retorted.

Frank sniffed and stopped walking after my comment. Oh shit now I’ve done it. His bottom lip began to tremble as did the rest of his body and tears began to gush from his eyes and roll down his cheeks. I immediately felt a pang of guilt rush through my body.

I extended my arms and wrapped them around his small shaking frame, “I’m sorry Frank, I’m just scared he’ll hurt you, you’re one of the best friends I’ve had in a long time, I don’t want to lose you” I smiled down at him using the pad of my thumb to wipe away his still warm tears.

“So-sorry, I just, I-I really like him, more than I should, he-he just seems too good to be true, I’d be shattered if he was actually a killer” Frank stammered and tripped over his words as he tried to hold back more tears.

“How about we just go to Mikey’s and chill out with chocolate and movies? It’ll take your mind off Mr Way and everything will be awesome?” I let a huge smile overtake my face and it seemed to infect Frank because soon enough he was smiling too.  
“Thanks Mira, come on lets go” He laughed taking my hand and running down the sidewalk.


	13. Chapter 13

Frank and I keeled over on Mikey’s porch attempting to regain our breath and let our now aching legs rest. For some unbeknownst reason Frank decided it was a good idea to sprint to Mikey’s. Never again listening to one of Frank’s ideas, never. I lifted my body off the hard timber and leant on my elbows, “I-I’ll g-get you-you back for thi-this Iero” I said in between pants.

Sweat was dripping down the sides of my face and it was beginning to become a real annoyance. I got to my feet and lifted my shirt to wipe away the sheath that coated my face in an uncomfortable stickiness.

“You didn’t have to run, so you can’t blame me” Frank smirked as he used his t-shirt as a fan to send waves of cool air around his torso.  
I shoved my elbow into his side, “I don’t know the way dumbass”.  
“You live right across the street, and it’s been a week, you should know the way by now” Frank pointed across street to my house that looked rather menacing in the overcast twilight.

A sudden movement at the side of the house from Frank’s pointing caused me to jump back a little, knocking over a pot plant in the process.  
“Mikey’s gonna be pissed about that” Frank said motioning toward the dirt that was spilling out from the terra cotta pot.  
“Shut up for a sec, did you see that?” I whispered leaning closer to Frank.  
“See what?” Frank followed my gaze to the house, “Your house? Yeah I see it”.  
“No shit Sherlock,” I scoffed sarcastically and slapped his arm playfully, “Not the damn the house, the, well I think it was a person, at the side of the house?”  
“I didn’t see anything, probably just a cat, come on let’s just go inside, it’s getting cold out here” Frank hugged his arms to his chest.

I just shrugged in reply and rapped on the front door using the large brass knocker that hung at eye level. Frank and I stood shivering slightly as we heard a shuffling and a loud thud from inside.

Frank laughed a little, “Bet you $10 he was asleep”.  
“You’re on” I smiled smugly, no way Mikey fell asleep, his eyes always look like they’re about to burst out of his head because he’s so alert and awake.

Suddenly the door flew open and a rather dishevelled looking Mikey appeared grinning, “Sorry about that, I fell asleep on the couch”  
“No problem Mikes” Frank followed Mikey into the house, stopping after he was a few feet to breath in the warmth of the house.

“I’ll go make some coffee, just make yourselves comfy” Mikey said before dashing off down the hallway to what I assumed was the kitchen.

Frank had already kicked off his shoes and I was seconds away from doing the same when I felt his hot breath tickle my ear, “You owe me $10”, he smiled smugly before winking and heading into the lounge room.  
“Son of a bitch” I muttered while removing my shoes and placing them next to the door.  
I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down to cover my hands before I followed Frank’s trail into the living room.

I was pleasantly surprised to the say the least with what I saw. The soft chocolate brown couch was huge and covered in pillows and doonas and the Xbox was on the coffee table along with a pile of games and movies. Damn, Mikey sure knew how to entertain. I smiled at the thought of the events that were to fill tonight and fell down onto the couch next to Frank. I sunk down into the cushions and was nearly inhaled by a sea of material and softness. I lifted myself off the couch for a moment to get comfy and shuffled in next to a reclining Frank.

“Video games, movies, food and coffee, damn tonight is going to be rad” I said as Mikey shuffled into the room with arms full of chocolate and sweets and three steaming cups of liquid perfection. Mikey giggled as he handed us each a mug and we began sipping furiously at it.  
“So what do guys wanna do first? Movie or video game?” Mikey asked plonking himself down on the couch next to me.  
“VIDEO GAME!” Frank and I both shouted in unison.  
“Woah, okay which one?” Mikey laughed a little and leant forward to turn on the Xbox and select a game.  
“Halo!” I quickly shuffled forward and grabbed a controller for myself and Frank, getting ready to kick ass.

And kick ass I did. Frank and Mikey gave up after the 10th consecutive time I beat them. I rose from my spot on the couch and revelled in victory only to be stopped by a swift onslaught of pillows flying at me from all directions.  
“Ah! Oof! Okay, okay I’ll stop, just, OW! Stop with the pillows!” I yelled running around the room trying to dodge the pillow missiles. Frank and Mikey fell onto one another holding their stomachs in laughter while I straightened up my clothes and hair. I stuck my tongue out at them, “Sore losers”.  
Mikey stopped laughing far before Frank and offered to put on a movie, “Anything in particular you want to watch?”.  
“Nah, I’m good with anything, I’m gonna go to the bathroom so you guys and pick one” I smiled and made my way out of the living room.

Damn I should have asked where the bathroom was. Oh well, it can’t be that hard to find, I mean how big could this house be?  
I walked to the end of the hallway and up the staircase only to be met with another hallway and all the doors closed. Why do people close their damn doors? I tip-toed down the hallway opening each door in a hope that one would lead to a bathroom.

First door; looks like a parent’s room, so nope not this one. Second door; this must be Mikey’s room considering his clothes from the past week are strewn everywhere. Third door; what in the world?

I stood dumbfounded for a moment as I took in the bedroom, it looked like a teenagers room. There were posters of bands covering the walls, black shag carpet and a red duvet covering the bed that had clothes and –ugh gross- underwear (that didn’t look clean) on it. The desk in the corner is what really caught my eye though. It was covered in pencils and pens and more importantly there was paper everywhere all containing random sketches and drawings.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion as I continued to stare at the room, this was certainly not Mikey’s room, Mikey could draw stick figures and that was about it, no offence to Mikey. But on the contrary he made up for his lack of artistic skill in other areas; science being one of them. And besides, the door across the hall led to Mikey’s room, so who the hell owns this one? Did Mikey have a brother? He never mentioned one and I never saw anyone else here but him and on the odd occasion his parents.

I thought I heard the sound of footsteps comming up the stairs so I quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me before trying the last door in the hallway. I flung the door open and found exactly what I’d been looking for; the bathroom. Which was lucky because I was about explode I needed to pee so badly.

I finished doing what I needed to and went to wash my hands in the sink. I turned the tap but nothing came out. A thick gurgling sound shook the metal of the faucet and the pipes behind the tiled walls of the bathroom sounded as though they were rattling against each other. I quickly fumbled with the tap to stop the increasing noise that made my ears ring. “Huh, well that’s weird” I mumbled to myself as I exited the bathroom and made my way down the creaky stairs.

I headed into the kitchen and made my way to the sink. I wiped away the fog that had formed on the window whilst I turned the tap on and hoped I got water. The soft thudding of the water against the metal sink took my attention away from the window and I washed my hands under the icy water that flowed freely. I flicked my hands in the sink a few times to remove any excess water droplets. I turned on my heel about to leave the kitchen when something caught the corner of my eye from the window.

I stood dead silent and my body went stiff. The lengthy creak of rusty metal hit my ears. Someone was coming into the backyard through the side gate. Common sense evaporated from my mind as I turned and leant over the sink to get a better view out the window and into the pitch black of the night. The full moon aided my vision and my insides erupted in a debilitating wave of nausea as I saw a figure dressed in full black turn away from closing the gate.

My knees gave way and I slipped down the counter slightly before grabbing hold on the edge to keep me upright. The first thing that popped into my head was the painting of Mikey. Mikey. Shit!  
I scrambled from the awkward stance and shot out of the kitchen and down the hallway, tripping over my feet every few steps.

“Mikey, Frank!” I called frantically as I burst into the lounge room to see them sprawled on the couch.  
“What’s up?” Mikey asked nonchalantly, not taking his eyes away from the TV screen. Frank however must have sense the pure terror in my voice and quickly jumped to his feet.  
“Shit Mira, are you alright?” He asked taking hold of my hands that were shaking violently.  
“He-he’s outside, quick we-we need to hide, he-he’s gonna get Mikey!” I wailed my voice cracking slightly from my hysterics.


	14. Chapter 14

Frank looked over at a rather confused Mikey as the colour drained from his face. He leapt toward the TV and quickly ripped the power chord from the socket in the wall as I hurried to turn off the light switches on the wall.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Mikey yelled at the pair of us.  
“Sssshhh!” Frank shushed, grabbing hold of Mikey and pulling him down behind the back of the couch. I quickly ran across the room and leaped over the back of the couch to join them.

“You two are insane, let me go, what is going on” Mikey struggled against Franks grip.  
“Shut up Mikey, we know who is behind the murders, and we know who his next victim is supposed to be” I whispered and pointed at Mikey.  
“What? That’s crazy, there’s no murderer, you guys have had way too many sweets and are obviously high on sugar, so will you please just let me go or I swear to god I will-“, Mikey’s ranting was cut off with the sound of the doorknob at the back of house being forced open send a chilling echo through the empty house.  
“The door’s locked right?” Frank asked his voice slightly squeaky from fear.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The sound of boot connecting with door rippled down the hallway. After one final blow the squeak of the metal hinges and the rattling of metal suggested that the door was now wide open.  
“Oh god, we are screwed”, I whispered holding Mikey and Frank close, both of them were shaking uncontrollably.

We huddled together, holding each other as a means of comfort. Our breathes were laboured as we tried to remain calm and quiet. Thud. Thud. Thud. Each footstep made my stomach twist in fear. Thud. Thud. Thud. He had to be only a few steps away from the living room by now. The three of us were frozen in pure fear.

“Fuck this, I’m not going down without a fight” I whispered before crawling around in the dark from behind the couch.  
“Mira, get your ass back here!” Mikey spat at me, before sighing following closely behind. Frank I presumed did much the same, but it was pitch black so I couldn’t really be sure.

I let my arms flail in front of my hoping to come in contact with the coffee table. A sharp pain erupted from my fingers. Well looks like I found it. I let my hands explore over the glass surface until a small clink of porcelain against glass alerted me that I had found what I was looking for. The glass bowl, that was now spare from the popcorn we had earlier devoured. I grabbed hold of it ever so slowly and carefully so that I wouldn't drop it. It was the only weapon I had at my disposal to protect Frank, Mikey and myself, so under no means was I going to let my clumsiness ruin that.

“What are you doing? He’s gonna find you! Just get back behind the couch, now!” Frank ordered from somewhere behind me.  
“No, may as well go down with a bit of a fight” I let a smirk work its way on my face at the thought of doing some real damage with the aid of my bowl, although Mikey and Frank couldn’t see it due to the darkness.  
“Are you crazy! You’ll get us all ki-“ Frank stopped talking as the sound of a cough from the doorway caught us all off guard. I snapped my head around to see figure lingering in the doorway.

I’m pretty sure my brain completely stopped functioning and went into overdrive all at once because before I knew it I was up on my feet screaming profanities. I launched myself towards the silhouette, bowl armed and ready. Using all the force I could muster I took the figure down to the hard wooden floor and began bashing away with the bowl.

“I’LL” SMACK “KILL” SMACK “YOU” SMACK “BEFORE” SMACK “YOU” SMACK “EVEN” SMACK “CONSIDER” SMACK “TOUCHING” SMACK “MIKEY!” I screamed at the writhing body underneath me, emphasising each word with a hard hit from the bowl.

Suddenly a brightness illuminated the room, I ignored the shouts from Frank and Mikey and continued to attack, my arms functioning on autopilot.  
“HOLY SHIT MIRA STOP!” Mikey screamed at me quickly snatching the bowl from my hands.

I looked down to the see the body that was trapped below me. A bloody and badly bruised Mr Way was groaning in pain while trying to remove me from holding his torso down.  
Mikey quickly fell to his side sweeping strands of hair from his face, “Gee! Gee! Oh god, are you alright?”.  
“Gee?” I questioned, pushing myself up off Mr Way and stepping back.

Mr Way continued to groan as he lifted himself onto his elbows, “Mi-Mikey? Mira? Frankie?, what is going on? Why did you attack me with, is-is that a bowl?”. He blinked and squinted a few times while rubbing the back of his head in pain.  
Mikey embrace Mr Way breathing heavily, “Jesus Gee you scared the shit out of me, what are you doing creeping around the back of the goddam house?”  
“I left my house key here this morning” Mr Way said pushing Mikey off him a little, “That doesn’t explain why I was attacked with a bowl though” He said raising an eyebrow at me.

My mouth hung agape as I took in the scene before me, Mikey was latched onto Mr Way as though he depended on him to survive and Frank had taken up a position next to Mr Way on the other side of his body looking equally distressed.

Words began to fall from my lips and I had barely any time to register what I way saying. “You! You’re a murderer! You were gonna kill Mikey, you sick son a bitch! I saw the paintings!” I pointed an accusing finger at Mr Way. My nostrils were flaring and my face was red, pulsating with anger. Mr Way’s eyes widened at the mention of the paintings, and he opened his mouth to speak before Mikey cut him off.

“What!? Gee a murderer? Are you crazy Mira, he’s my goddam brother!” Mikey shouted getting to his feet and dragging Mr Way with him.  
I shook my head, trying to wrap my brain around the unfurling of information. “You two are related?”, the brothers nodded their heads in reply.  
“Wait how come I never knew this?” Frank chimed in.  
“You never asked” Mikey replied simply.  
“That doesn’t explain the paintings, Gee” I hardened my stare on Mr Way. He shuffled awkwardly under my gaze before throwing himself on Mikey tears cascading down his bloodied cheeks and pained wails escaping his lips. Great, that was the second person I’d made cry today.  
“What is she talking about Gee, what paintings?” Mikey cooed, gently rubbing his bothers back.  
“I think we should sit down and sort this mess out, there is a lot of explaining to do, on everyone’s behalf” Frank said walking off towards the kitchen, flicking on a few light switches as he went illuminating the hallway.  
I quickly took one look at Mikey and Gerard, things we’re far too personal now to address him as Mr Way, before following Frank.


	15. Chapter 15

Frank and I sat at one end of the table, Mikey and Gerard sat at the other. Gerard’s eyes were red and puffy from crying and Mikey looked like he was seconds away from letting the tears flow. Frank sighed and placed his head in his hands, I hoped he wasn’t about to cry as well. I can hardly deal with one emotional person, let alone three. We all sat in a very uncomfortable silence trying our hardest to avoid each other’s gaze.

“The silence is physically hurting me, can we just get this over with” I placed my elbows on the table and looked directly at Gerard, “I think you should start with the paintings and we’ll work our way from there”.  
Gerard sniffled and wipe away a few stray tears, “O-okay, sorry about being all emotional, it’s been a long week, okay the paintings, I know what you’re thinking; they look like complete replicas of the crime scenes and they were painted before the murders”.  
Frank and I nodded in response before Gerard continued, “Okay well, I know how incriminating it looks but I swear on my life, on my parent’s lives that I did not, repeat, did not kill or harm anyone, I think someone is trying to frame me”.  
“Why should we believe you?” I growled.  
“Because he’s my brother! He wouldn’t hurt a fly! He’s petrified of needles and blood, how would he even be able to do what was done to those poor people? They were practically mutilated!” Mikey waved his arms around in Gerard’s defense.

Gerard took hold of Mikey’s hand, “Please you have to believe me, I didn’t want to have to admit this, but I need your help and more importantly support, especially from you Frankie”.  
Frank shot his head up at the sound of his name and gave Gerard a look of pure pity, “I don’t know what to say, but I-I trust you Gee”  
“What’s with the nicknames, and why do you need Franks support and help? Gee, what is going on with you two?” Mikey snatched his hand from Gerard’s looking rather hurt.  
“Mikey, please don’t be mad, Frank and I, we-we’re together” Gerard looked down at his hands.  
Mikey’s jaw dropped instantly, “What!? You’re dating my best friend!? And he’s a student! Gee that’s illegal!”.  
“Please Mikey can we talk about it later, I already got this lecture from Mira this afternoon, plus there are more important issues right now” Gerard said massaging his temples.

“I don’t understand though, why would someone go to this extent to frame you, what did you do?” I posed my question to everyone rather than just Gerard.  
Looks of confusion and debate raced across all of our faces and Gerard looked like his thoughts were having a war inside his head.

“I’ve got no idea! That’s the whole problem here, I’ve done nothing and yet murders that replicate my art, which puts me in a very guilty looking position, keep occurring! I’m constantly paranoid and in a state on anxiousness that the police are going to come knocking on my door or turn up at school and throw me in jail for a crime I didn’t commit!” Gerard’s breaths became heavier as he fell further into hysterics.  
Mikey wrapped his arms around his brother comforting him, “It’s okay Gee, we-we’ll find out who is doing this, you’ll be fine, you’re not going to prison”.  
“What do you suggest we do?” Frank asked.

I sat back in my chair pondering the question and taking a moment to absorb and clarify all the information that had just been shared over the last few minutes. We could set a trap, but we don’t know who or what we’re trying to catch, so that’s a no go.

“Gerard, who else has seen your paintings?”, I looked over at him as he detached himself from Mikey.  
“Well I thought no one, but you two obviously have, I only work on them in the afternoons, so you two, again, are the only ones that would know”.  
I sighed in defeat, “Well there goes my idea, I’ve got nothing, I can’t even consider someone that would do this”.  
“Wait, what about the windows!?” Frank shot up straight in his seat.  
“Windows, what windows?” Gerard questioned.  
“Mira and I both had someone break into our houses, they trashed the place then smashed the window and left a thick black residue on it, when we woke up in the morning the window was fine, it was as if nothing had even happened!” Frank explained, using his hands to gesticulate each word.  
“You think it’s connected in some way?” Mikey asked.  
“It has to be, you don’t think that maybe this person is out for more than revenge on Gerard do you? You don’t think they are after Frank and I as well?” I stammered a little, “This is ridiculous, I’ve been here a week and I’m already on some whacko’s hit list, I knew we should have never moved here”.

Frank opened his mouth to speak before a loud smash made us all jump in shock. We all looked at each other before shooting out of our seats and rushing to the source of the sound in the living room. The curtains were blowing furiously as the wind poured in from the now shattered window. In the center of the room surrounded by glistening pieces of shattered glass was a brick. It was coated in a deathly crimson colour, staining the area of carpet it landed on. Mikey was the first to move, shuffling forward and picking up the brick. The underside dripped the oozing black substance that had been on mine and Frank’s windows. A small piece of paper fluttered in the draft that blew in from the, now shattered, window.

“What’s that?” Frank asked nearly running forward in an effort to grab the note before it flew away. Gerard and I leant over his shoulder to see what the note contained. Frank unfurled it ever so slowly careful not to rip it as the blood had weakened the paper. Mikey quickly discarded the brick to join us as we stared intently at the note. Frank slowly unfurled the last folded piece. The four of us gasped in unison. My heart and stomach felt like they dropped and were set on fire all at once as I tried to comprehend what was in front of me.  
Pictures. One of each of us. Our eyes and lips were scratched out. A message was scrawled underneath, in red ink or blood, I couldn’t be sure. Either way I was petrified as my eyes ran over the words. “You’re Next”


	16. Chapter 16

All of us stood dumfounded, in a state of stupor, but most of all, the one thing that pulsed throughout my veins and along every nerve in my body was fear; pure unaltered, inescapable fear. My feet began to move on their own, stumbling backwards and loosing balance. I fell to the ground in a heap, hugging my arms to my chest and pulling my legs in as close as possible. My perception was warped; my vision switching between blurry and blotchy. Voices calling my name raced around my head, changing each time. Loud, soft, high, low, clear, muffled. One continuous calling mixed in with the others began to drag me back into reality. A fuzzy blob appeared in front of me, shouting, screaming, “Mira! Mira!”

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, seeing distorted dots and blobs before re-opening them. Mikey’s face slowly came into focus, the light reflecting in the still wet tear tracks that cascaded down his rosy cheeks. Suddenly his face was replaced by streaks of blonde and brown as he wrapped his arms around my trembling body. Although my vision and breathing was obstructed by his mass of hair, I felt safer than ever in Mikey’s warm embrace.

My throat burned as I forced out words, “Wh-what happened?”  
“Oh god you’re alright, you scared the shit out of us Mira, you fell back and then your eyes were rolling back into your head, we thought you were having a seizure or some sort of episode” Mikey wailed, pulling back from the hug, but still gripping onto my upper arms.  
“Here, drink this” Gerard’s hand appeared before me holding a glass of water.  
“Thanks” I murmured before taking a sip of the icy liquid, letting it slip down my throat and soothe the burning sensation. “I think I need to stand up, give us a hand Mikey”. I put the now empty glass on the floor and held up my hand to which Mikey took a firm grasp of and pulled me to my feet.  
“You feeling better?” Frank said looking nervous.  
“Yeah, better now, I have no idea what happened before, that’s never happened before” I said wiping stray strands of hair from my face.

“I think it’s best if you all stay here for the night, Mikey you and Mira can share and Frank and I will share, I don’t think it’s wise to be alone, especially after what’s just transpired” Gerard wrapped his arm around Franks waist, causing a rosy pink to colour his cheeks.  
“As long as you two are quiet” I smirked at Gerard and Frank.  
They both looked at each other; bushing madly.  
“Oh god, I don’t want to hear that sort of stuff about my brother!” Mikey held his hands to his ears. Frank, Gerard and I burst out laughing at Mikey’s reaction.

“So what do we do?” I asked as we regained composure.  
“What do you mean what do we do?” Frank questioned, lacing his fingers with Gerard’s, “If you mean go to sleep then I am all for it”.  
“No, as nice as sleep sounds, we need to figure something out, I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet but we’re a murderer's targets, and as nice as it is here, Frank and I will have to go home eventually plus there’s school to worry about” I said flopping myself down on the couch, avoiding the stained area of carpet from earlier. Frank, Gerard and Mikey all soon followed and joined me in the mess of pillows and blankets that covered the couch.

“We could set up surveillance cameras in the art room” I suggested.  
Gerard just nodded, “Yeah, that could work, but we need a reason for whoever the perpetrator is to go into the art room”.  
“Well, what about a painting?” Mikey smiled.  
Gerard, Frank and I swapped confused glances, “What are you talking about Mikes?” Frank asked.  
“Well you said that whoever was doing this was replicating the things you’re painting right Gee?” Gerard nodded, “Exactly, so we could set a sort of trap I guess, Gee you need to paint something that involves one of us, then the person whomever that may be, will go to the art room and look for the most recent painting, and then presumably they will go and recreate it, but we’ll be ready, we’ll catch them in the act and have them on surveillance camera in your art room!” Mikey’s eyes widened as his grin grew with the formation of his plan.

I leant forward a little comprehending Mikey’s plan; he was a genius. Mikey fuckin’ Way does it again. I practically threw myself at him, hugging his small frame, “You’re a freaking genius Mikes! We can get the cameras tomorrow and Gerard, you and Frank can work on the idea for the painting!”

Frank smiled, “Sounds like a plan, this asshole has no chance against us, come on Gee,” Frank stood up from the couch fingers still interlocked with Gerard’s, “We’re gonna go to bed, I think we all are going to need a good nights’ rest, night Mikes, night Mira”. Frank left the room with Gerard in tow, Mikey and I sat in silence as we listened to the thump of their footsteps get quieter and quieter.

“Frank's right, we should probably get some sleep, come on Mikey” I held my hand out to help Mikey up from the couch. He followed close behind as we made our way from the living room and up the staircase. I stopped upbruptly halfway up, “Wait, what about the window? We can’t just leave it broken all night”.  
Mikey let out an annoyed groan, “Dammit, can you get Gerard? I’ll need his help to board some wood over it”, he turned and made his way back down the stairs as he spoke.

I made it to the hallway upstairs and tried to remember which door led to Gerard’s room. Oh shit, which one was it? A small giggle from behind a closed door answered my mental question. There’s only one person that adorable giggle could belong to; Frank. I walked across the hallway and made the mistake of not knocking on the wooden door before swinging it open. Frank had Gerard pinned to the bed by straddling his hips and they were both topless. Frank shot his head up and from the wildness of his hair and kiss swollen lips I could tell I just interrupted a pretty heated make-out session.

“Holy shit! Dear god I am so freaking sorry, oh shit, sorry,sorry” I quickly shot my head down and backed out of the room, “I don’t mean to interrupt or ruin the moment but Mikey needs your help Gerard to board up the window” I called through the now closed door.


	17. Chapter 17

Moments later, Gerard pulled the door open and reappeared, shirt back on and hair fixed. He avoided my gaze taking off down the hallway and disappearing down the stairs. I pushed myself off from leaning against the wall and walked into what I now knew as Gerard’s bedroom. Frank was sat on the end of the bed, shirt on, hair a mess and awkwardly picking at a fraying strand on his jeans. His hair managed to cover most of his face but the bright red that painted his cheeks couldn’t be hidden nor missed. I decided not to make the situation worse by pointing out that I had just walked in on my best friend and teacher making out.

“Hey Frank” I smiled and sat next to him, the bed sinking a little under my weight, “Uh, look I’m really not good with these types of things, but you don’t need to be so embarrassed, I mean it could have been worse right?”, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, as a form of comfort but I don’t think it did much.  
He laughed a little, “True, I don’t want to think what you might have seen if you walked in 10 minutes later”, he winked at me.  
“Oh, okay, gross, too much information” I removed my arm and shuffled away a little.  
“Don’t tell Mikey, he probably doesn’t want to hear that his best friend and big brother were making out half naked, in his house”  
“Trust me, there’s no way in hell I’m repeating what I saw, ever.”  
Frank giggled and his cheeks had now returned to a normal colour “Sorry, we probably should have put like a tie or the doorknob or something”.  
“No, no don’t do that, then I’ll know exactly what you two are doing and the mental images are far too traumatising, just wait until you guys are home alone or something, for everyone’s sake”  
“Shut up!” Frank smiled and threw a teddy bear at me, which managed to hit me square in the face.  
I stumbled back a little catching the bear before it fell to the floor, “Now Mr Iero that behaviour is completely unnecessary!”, I smiled and threw the bear back, aiming for his face. He ducked just in time to dodge being hit.  
“I declare war!” Frank half shouted grabbing a pillow as a shield and holding the teddy bear above his head, ready to attack.

We continued darting around the room using pillows as shields and teddy bears as weapons. Until somehow the pair of us ended up running straight for each other, pillows held out in front. We collided in the centre of the room and fell down on top of one another, limbs tangled and stomachs aching from laughter.

I let a yawn escape my lips once the laughter had subsided, “I could fall asleep here, it’s comfy enough” I smiled and snuggled into a pillow, closing my eyes.  
“You can’t just sleep on Gee’s floor” Frank grinned using his fingers to force open my eyelids, “Speaking of Gee, what’s taking him and Mikey so long?”.  
Letting go of the pillow I sat up, “I don’t know, I haven’t even heard a noise the whole time they’ve been downstairs”.  
Frank stood and fixed up his crumpled jeans and shirt before holding out a hand to assist me in standing, “Come on, we’d better check they’re okay, something just doesn’t feel right”.  
I grabbed hold of his hand and hoisted myself up from the ground and patted down the mattered mess of hair that fell over my eyes obstructing my vision.

Frank took the lead making his way out of the room, “Hold on a minute, maybe we should get baseball bats or something”  
“What? Why?” Frank stopped and looked at me utterly confused.  
“Uhm maybe because of the death threat that came flying through the window on a brick? And someone could be down there and have Mikey and Gerard, there’s not point going downstairs unarmed and then finding ourselves in some serious shit and not being able to protect ourselves”  
“I suppose that’s true, well I don’t know about baseball bats, but Mikey has tennis rackets”  
“Mikey plays tennis?”  
“He tried, once”  
I grinned at the thought of Mikey playing tennis, he seemed to be more a kickball kind of guy rather than tennis. Frank disappeared out of the room only to return moments later with two red and black tennis rackets. He handed me one, I inspected the strings and hit it against the palm of my hand to test the strength.

I nodded at Frank, and he began to tip toe down the hallway. He tensed up every time he hit a creaky floorboard, stopping completely and raising his racket a little, only to continue on forward when I nudged him with the end of my racket. We made our way down the stairs and crept into the living room. My eyes went directly to the window that was still broken and the hammer and wooden boards that were sat next to it.  
“Why are the boards just sitting there? Where are Gee and Mikey?” Frank questioned walking towards the window, he only made it a few steps before letting a tortured yelp to escape his lips.  
“What? Frank what is it?” I asked moving forward trying to see what the couch was obstructing from my view.

Gerard’s body was slumped over in a pool of blood. His skin was covered in cuts and bruises, like someone had gone over his body with a cheese grater. Blood continued to pump and bubble out of the deeper wounds adding to the already sizable puddle on the floor.  
“Gee! Oh god Gee! Wake up!”, tears cascaded down Frank’s cheeks as he fell into hysterics by Gerard’s body.

My body froze and tensed up as I took in what was before me. Frank had latched himself on Gerard, getting covered in blood in the process, bawling as he begged for Gerard to wake up. I watched the scene intently, not shifting my gaze. That’s when I saw it. It was small, nearly unnoticeable but it was there, the slow but steady rising of Gerard’s chest. He was alive, but only just.

I ran forward and ripped Frank’s trembling body away from Gerard, “Wh-what are y-you doing!?”  
“Go to the bathroom and get some gauze and antiseptic from the medicine cabinet, he’s still alive but he won’t be for much longer if we don’t stop the bleeding” I half yelled at Frank, he didn’t move. “Frank! Go, now!”, with the last bit of shouting his body seemed to kick into gear and he sprinted from the room. I placed my hands on the largest wound that was pumping out the crimson liquid at an alarming rate and applied pressure, trying to ignore the feeling of ripped flesh on the palms of my hands.

Frank appeared moments later at my side with and armful of gauze and a large bottle of antiseptic, “Is h-he gonna be okay?” Frank sniffled as he forced out the words.  
I quickly began dabbing the liquid over the wounds, internally thankful Gerard had passed out as the pain would have been unimaginable, and then applied the gauze to try and slow the blood flow.

“Mira? Is he gonna be o-“  
“I think so, we just need to stop the bleeding”  
“Shouldn’t we ring the ambulance or something?”  
“They’ll ask questions Frank, questions we can’t answer, if the police get involved the first thing they’ll do is search, search our houses, search Gerard’s art room, and if they find the paintings Gerard is screwed”

Frank began to shake and cry again, I may have been a bit harsh, but I was tired, confused, angry and scared. The fact that Gerard was nearly killed whilst we were just upstairs really made it sink in how much danger we were actually in. Next time we mightn't be so lucky, it could be anyone of us, me, Frank, Mikey- Mikey!  
“Oh no”  
“What?, what is it?”  
My eyes widened and tears began to burn my cold cheeks as they fell, “Mikey, where is Mikey!?”.


	18. Chapter 18

My body shot up from hovering over Gerard, I was on my feet in seconds and dashing frantically around the unknown labyrinth of the house. I forced open every door, inspected every room, only to be met with the same thing; nothing. I bent over puffing, my hands on my knees holding up my upper body. I fell into a coughing fit every time I tried to swallow some saliva to soothe the burning in the back of my throat.

Emotions began to wreak havoc inside me; I was infuriated at whoever was pulling these stunts and now currently had Mikey. But I was also on the edge of falling to the ground and caving in on myself, just letting the tears pool on the cold wooden floor, let the wails escape my lips, but I couldn’t, crying wouldn’t do anyone any good in this situation, neither would unfathomable anger. I had to suppress everything I felt, I had to be reasonable, if not for my sake than for everyone else’s.

I walked back into the living room and knelt down next to Frank who was still crying over Gerard’s mangled body. I placed my fingers on his throat to check his pulse. It had sped up somewhat than before, meaning the blood loss had slowed.

“He’s going to be fine Frank, stop with the tears, we need to get him awake” I said nonchalantly, I didn’t meant to sound rude about his crying but he needed to be calm, crying wasn’t going to help Gerard wake up any faster.

Frank looked up at me slightly offended. I wiped away the warm droplets from his cheeks and held his face in my hands, “I don’t mean to be insensitive Frank, but we need to get him awake and it’s hard to concentrate if you’re whimpering and sniffling, I understand this is hard but we need to move fast, every second he’s unconscious, Mikey is in even more danger”.

Frank pulled away from my grip and looked at Gerard, “I’m sorry Gee” he whispered before balling his hand into tight fist. Before I could even register what was happening Frank had punched Gerard square in the jaw causing a deep moan to escape the older man’s bloody lips.  
Frank began to go in for another hit before I grasped onto his forearm.  
“Jesus Frank! What are you doing!?”  
“You said we needed to wake him up”  
“I didn’t think you’d punch him in the damn face”  
“Well it worked didn’t it” Frank smiled as Gerard’s body began to wriggle and twitch.

His mouth opened slightly followed by the fluttering of his eyelids. “Ugh-where-what-Ow! Ouch oh god, I feel like I’ve been put through a wood chipper” Gerard’s voice was hoarse and groggy.  
“Well you look like exactly how you feel” I said placing my arms underneath his back and helping him to sit up.

Frank stayed silent before launching himself onto Gerard’s lap, lathering him in butterfly kisses and hugging his waist tightly, “I thought I’d lost you” he whispered into his neck.  
“It’s okay Frankie, I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fi-Mikey!” Gerard’s face fell as he pulled away from Frank’s embrace, “Mikey! Where is Mikey!? Oh god, they got him didn’t they, fuck, this is all my fault! If only I wasn’t so useless, Mikey deserves a better brother than me, I couldn’t even help him when he needed me most!”, Gerard put his head in hands, whimpering as the tears flowed freely.

Now it was my time to hit him. I violently grabbed Gerard’s arms and forced him to look at me before my palm came in contact with his cheek, leaving a nice throbbing red mark. “We don’t have time for this Gerard! It’s no one’s fault, crying and playing the blame game won’t help anyone! Get it together! Tell us what happened when you came downstairs!” I half yelled in his face, but I knew it was the only way he would pay attention and be receptive. The time for soothing coos was by far over.

He was in a state of shock for a moment before the words started to freely flow from his lips, “I-uh I came downstairs after you-you know walked in on us” He raised an eyebrow at Frank who interlocked their fingers, “Mi-Mikey was waiting by the window, he had the boards and hammer ready to go, and then it all happened so fast, someone came in through the window and held a hand over Mikey’s mouth, my body kinda froze for a moment, but then I tried to get to Mikey as fast as possible, he –he pulled out a knife” Gerard stammered to a stop. Frank nudged on his shoulder lightly urging him to continue. “I – didn’t think I just ran for the guy, and then another one came in, he attack me with a pocket knife while the other one shoved a needle into Mikey’s neck, everything went hazy after that, the last thing I remember is Mikey being pulled out the window and an excruciating pain in my stomach”, Gerard finished holding a hand to the deepest of the wounds in his body on the middle of his abdomen.

“Did they say anything? Did you recognise them at all?” Frank pleaded.  
“They had hoodies, it was dark, one did say something, it sounded like “muse out”, whatever that means” Gerard answered.  
Frank’s eyes lit up, “The Muse out! Ray told me about that once! It’s this cubbyhouse shelter thing out the back of the music classrooms, it’s out of school grounds and surrounded by trees, so no one but the music kids know about it, they use it to practice during classes”.  
“That means whoever has Mikey are students? But why would students use murder and kidnap to get back at you Gerard? And what do they want with us?” I asked utterly confused.  
“I don’t know and I don’t care, we just need to get Mikey before he gets hurt!” Gerard jumped to his feet a little too quickly because he nearly fell over again from the pain that rippled through his body.  
“Gee, you can’t go, you need to stay here and rest, Mira and I will go” Frank held onto Gerard and began leading him to the couch, however he protested.  
“NO! No! I have to go, I have to get Mikey back, it’s my fault he’s in danger in the first place”  
Frank pleaded with me to convince Gerard to stay, “I don’t think anything we do will get him to stay Frank, we’ll just take him with us, besides we’re wasting time just standing around and talking about it, we need to go!”.

Frank huffed as Gerard smiled and thanked me. Frank and I stood either side of Gerard as we made our way out of the Way residence and down the front path towards the car. Frank helped Gerard into the passenger seat while I hopped in the back. Frank got behind the wheel and fired up the car, one hand on the steering wheel the other tightly wrapped around Gerard’s hand.

The soft murmur of the cars engine as we drove toward the school made the full extent of the situation hit me. These guys were dangerous and capable of murder; gruesome murders at that. And here we were, two kids and teacher driving into a possible bloodbath to save our kidnapped friend. I mentally slapped myself as my mother’s words, that she used nearly daily, ran through my head, “Stay safe and don’t get in trouble”. Sorry mum; safety has pretty much been removed from this situation and I’m about to get myself into a whole load of trouble.


	19. Chapter 19

We pulled up in the parking lot at the front of the school, Frank ripped the keys out of the ignition and sat back in his seat sighing heavily. None of us dared be the first to speak or move. It was strange to say the least. We were perfectly aware of the situation, the gravity of it and the need for haste to retrieve Mikey. Yet we sat in silence, unmoving in the car. Gerard turned a little in his seat to meet Frank’s gaze, they didn’t speak but I assumed their eyes said more than words ever could because within seconds they were embracing. Not necessarily loving but more of a needy comforting embrace.

I must admit I felt a little awkward, my eyes shot around and I wasn’t exactly sure where to look. I didn’t know if I should cough or get out of the car or just sit and wait for them to finish.  
“I- uh, I’m sorry to interrupt this little moment you two are having but we kinda need to get Mikey” I said awkwardly before sliding out of the car. I heard muffled voices from inside the car once I had slammed my door shut, but paid no attention. I was too busy rubbing my hands together in a pathetic attempt to warm my shaking body.

Moments later Gerard and Frank emerged from the car, Frank clung onto Gerard’s arm to make sure he didn’t fall and injure himself further.  
“Okay, from what I remember there should be a hole in the fence behind the music classroom, then we just need to go straight ahead and we should find it in no time”, Frank smiled and began to lead the way, half dragging Gerard behind him.

The three of us stuck close to the cold brick exterior of the school, our backs rubbing against it as we shuffled silently around the back of the school. I’d never been around this part of the school before and hadn’t realised that there was practically a forest behind the building. Of course there was a 7ft or so fence separating the two but that did little to deter the decaying limbs of the trees poking through the gaps in the fence and almost reaching out to grab hold of the building.  
I wasn’t usually one to be jittery or afraid of the dark, but the further along the wall we went, the darker it got and the more branches stuck through making it hard to see; thus making me more nervous.

A sudden sharp pain starting on my cheek shot through my face. I quickly stopped walking and dabbed my index finger over the initial site of the pain and a warm stickiness coated the pad on my finger. I pulled my hand away to inspect it and the all too familiar red of blood seemed to glow from the little light emitted from the moon. I used the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe away the blood that continued to trickle down my cheek and pushed the branch that had scratched at my face out of the way. It was then that I realised the sweeping mop of black hair that belonged to Gerard was no longer a few paces in front of me.

My heart rate began to accelerate as I heard the dull throbbing thud in my ears. I swallowed even though my mouth had gone dry, “Ge-Gerard?” I croaked, my voice hoarse. “Gerard! Frank!” I began to shuffle around in a circle, hoping that with the next rotation either one would magically appear. The more I moved, the more frantic I got. My palms began to sweat profusely and the blood began to pump once again out of the wound on my cheek. “If this is some kind of joke it’s not funny!” I spoke; the burn in my throat from forcing the words out increasing alongside with the volume of my voice.

My breathing increased. The limbs of the trees seemingly encroached further towards me. Twigs serving as fingers; extended and ready to take hold of me. The tight grasp of a bony limb around my wrist caused a scream to escape my lips and echo off between the trees. I violently shook and clawed to escape the grip, but the more I fought the further into the fear induced hallucination I fell. Small whimpers dripped from the back of my throat as I fell to the ground, hugging my knees to my chest. The grasp of my wrist loosened a little and made its way up along my arm before stopping on my shoulder. The grip tightened once again and soon my body was being shaken involuntarily.

“Mira! Mira!” Frank’s face appeared before, his eyes wide and full of concern.  
Instantaneously everything went back to normal. The trees returned to their places, no longer reaching out for me and it was no longer as dark as I had assumed. I flung myself forward gripping onto Frank’s small frame apologising repeatedly.  
“Whoa, hey what are you apologising for? You didn’t do anything wrong, Gee and I were waiting for you and we heard a scream, we thought they had got you too” Frank cooed, gently pulling away and helping me stand.  
“I think the fear and paranoia just got to me, the darkness can be a burden on the mind sometimes” I almost whispered as I brushed off the dirt and leaf litter from my jeans.  
“What happened to your cheek?” Gerard emerged from behind a branch obviously having watched the scene.

I raised a hand to my cheek felt the crustiness from the congealed blood, “A tree, I wasn’t watching and hit a branch before I uh- you know…” I trailed off not wanting to explain what had just happened, because to be honest I wasn’t entirely sure myself.  
“Do you need to talk about it?” Gerard stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on my back.  
“No, no, I – we, we need to get Mikey” I stammered a little.  
Gerard and Frank swapped glances but didn’t say another word knowing how stubborn I was. Frank continued on in the direction we were originally going disappearing behind a few branches, Gerard followed and I made sure this time to stick as close behind him as was possible.

Gerard stopped abruptly causing me to ram straight into his back and mutter a very awkward sorry. I stepped to the side to see why we had stopped and saw Frank’s behind as he crawled through a small tear in the wire. “Come on”, he urged. Gerard was a little apprehensive but wriggled through, I followed although it was a little difficult, I may have been small by my jeans and hoodie got caught on nearly every sharp piece of metal that stuck out just a little too far.  
The three of us followed the trail of dead grass that had been left by the constant repetition of shoe against ground.

A gentle yellow glow ahead made us all pick our pace ever so slightly. Soon enough the trees thinned out, the light grew brighter and muffled voices with the occasional laugh were carried by the night air into our ears. It wasn’t long before we encountered what I presumed to be the infamous ‘muse out’. It was exactly as Frank had described it; a cubbyhouse thing, but with every board and beam being of a different wood and colour and the awkward angle at which it sat it was definitely a student built project. Quick, simple and probably done in a last minute rush.  
“Surprisingly enough it’s a lot sturdier than it looks” Frank whispered as we crouched behind a shrub.

It was the last bit of coverage before the trees and foliage stopped completely in an almost perfect circle surrounding the decrepit looking structure. In our silent observance the loud and continuous slapping of what sounded like palm against cheek rippled through the night causing a low growl to emerge from Gerard’s throat.  
“We need to get in there now!” Gerard shot up and hastily crept forward, despite pleas from Frank and I to come back.

We had no plan. No protection. We didn’t even know how many thugs there were behind the door waiting to take us down with one bullet. Frank and I reluctantly followed Gerard, slowly getting closer and closer to the building.  
“If we make it out alive, I’m gonna kill the pair of you” I hissed.

We all stood in front of the door hands and feet ready to make a dramatic but unbelievably stupid entrance. Gerard held up his hand and used his fingers to count down from three.  
Three.  
Two.  
One.

All of us forced out bodied against the door and burst into the room in a fumbling, raging heap. Mikey sat half unconscious tied to a chair in the centre of the room. His cheek had a red throbbing hand print etched into it and the rest of his body was bruised and cut.  
Two much larger figures stood either side of him, one bracing his arm ready to hit Mikey again and the other grinning; a deathly pure evil grin. I could hardly speak when I put the faces and bodies of the thugs with names. One did not hit me as too majorly shocking but the other nearly broke my heart to see. Mikey trusted him and here he was beating Mikey to the point of unconsciousness.  
I had to release a breath I didn’t realised I’d been holding before speaking. Hearing myself say it out loud made my heart shatter. How could he do this?  
“Tyler?.....Ray!?”


	20. Chapter 20

The second the words had fallen from my lips everything seemed to be happening at once. Gerard, despite his injuries had leapt forward, arms outstretched and rage fuelling every one of his actions, as his hands grasped tightly around Tyler’s throat. Tyler being taken aback by Gerard’s sudden movement fell to the ground, the older of the two never loosening his deathly grip around his throat.

A sickening crunch came from my left. I snapped my head just in time to see Frank curl his hands into a fist and hit Ray square in the jaw. Blood leaking from his already broken nose flew in all directions from the force of Frank’s punch. I stood frozen taking in the war that was playing out in front of me. Gerard had nearly choked Tyler into unconsciousness and Frank continued to lay punches and bruise Ray’s face.

Knowing that it was only a matter of time until blind rage and fury caused either Frank or Gerard to kill their target made my mind go back to normal yet frantic functionality. My eyes darted around the square room, looking for something, anything that would serve as useful.  
Rope. Chairs. Perfect.

I dashed to the tangled rope that was piled in the corner of the room along with the chairs, dodging a fist that went flying through the air on my way. I dragged each one of the chairs as close to the commotion as I could and got the rope untangled and ready.  
Frank caught on to what I was doing and promptly shoved Ray with all the force he could muster so that he fell back into the chair that was waiting. The second he hit the chair Frank and I were securing his limbs with the rope. Once we knew Ray wasn’t going anywhere fast we promptly hurried over to pry Gerard off a near dead Tyler. Injured or not Gerard had one hell of a grip and even the two of us pulling and clawing at him didn’t make him loosen even the slightest.  
“Jesus Gerard! Let him go!” Frank screamed.  
Gerard refused to answer instead he let out an animalistic growl punching Tyler in the face. Frank took the opportunity to heave Tyler from the ground and place him on the chair, whilst I latched onto Gerard’s back trying my best to pull him away from attacking Tyler again. Gerard fought against my grasp, elbowing me in the nose in the process causing blood to shoot all over his back and a painful moan to escape my lips. The pain caused me to let Gerard go but luckily Frank had secured Tyler to the chair and was in the process of calming Gerard down.

The blood continued to dribbled down my face and from the constant throbbing in my nose I assumed it was broken, “Fuck you Gerard! You broke my goddamn nose!” I glared at him.  
Shame suddenly took away the rage that was etched onto his face and he muttered a soft “Sorry” under his breath. Frank fished around in his pockets, satisfied that he no longer needed to restrain Gerard, and pulled out a tissue.  
“Here” He passed me the tissue and I snatched it from his grasp. He knew I wasn’t mad at him but he looked hurt nonetheless.

Gerard and Frank did nothing but stare at me as I held the tissue to my nose trying to capture the blood that continued to gush out. “Uhm can I help you? You should be figuring out why these two took Mikey not watching me shove a tissue up my nose!” I snapped.  
My sudden forcefulness seemed to be enough to snap Gerard and Frank back into the situation at hand; Ray and Tyler, two murderers and kidnappers tied to chairs and an unconscious Mikey also tied to a chair.

“Frank can you untie Mikey so he doesn’t completely freak out when he wakes up”, Frank nodded compliantly in reply to Gerard request.  
A heavy huff of air escaped Gerard’s lips as he brought his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. He began to pace from side to side in front of Tyler and Ray muttering incoherently.  
“What’s the issue?” My voice came out a little nasally due to the tissue held against my face.  
“I-I just don’t know where to begin” Gerard stopped pacing and turned to me letting his strong features soften, an obvious sign that his overactive mind was beginning to take a toll on his body.  
“It’s okay Gee, I’ll do it” Frank smiled softly before turning to Ray.

Frank's face contorted into a snarl as positioned himself in front of Ray so that he looked a hell of a lot bigger and more menacing than he really was. Ray did nothing but look at Frank with pure disgust.  
“Well! Go on then! Explain yourself you son of a bitch!” Frank growled.  
“FINE! But the only son a bitch here is that fucker right there!” Ray gave Gerard daggers.  
Gerard took a step towards Ray before I grabbed around his waist, “Easy there Mr Muscle but we need answers before you decide to disfigure him”.  
Gerard eased back after my reprimanding and Ray began to speak again.  
“I don’t even know why you’re here Frank, my only quarrel here lies with Mira, Gerard is Tyler’s problem”  
“What are you talking about?” I asked, “I’ve done nothing to you! I’ve only known you for a week for fucks sake!”

“You took Mikey! That’s what you did! You fucking took my best friend! I love him! And then you just turn up and suddenly you’re all he cares about!” Ray screamed, his tough exterior from moments before cracking letting the emotions take hold, “And for that I fucking hate you! You’re nothing but a cheap whore who took the one person I loved more than anything in the world!”

“Mikey and I are just friends you fucking lunatic! Where did you get all these ideas from?” I yelled pushing Frank out of the way and taking his spot towering over Ray.

“He fucking told me! Every single fucking day! Everything that came out of his mouth was about you!”  
“That’s not my fucking fault! I didn’t know he felt that way! And that no reason to be breaking into my fucking house and trashing my kitchen and then sending death threats on bricks through windows! And then you top it all off by kidnapping Mikey! What the fuck Ray!? You should have just told Mikey how you feel about him rather play this pathetic game and ruin every chance you ever had!”

Ray let his head hang a little in shame, I think it finally hit him just how much he completely fucked up. Not only had he broken the law but now Mikey would never want to be anywhere near him again. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“That doesn’t explain Tyler! Or the murders!” Frank seethed.  
“I’ll explain those” Tyler decided to join the conversation, despite his predicament his voice and expression was of pure satisfaction. I can’t imagine why, he was going to go to jail for murder and kidnap, he has nothing he should be happy about, but then again the boy was completely crazy so that might have had something to do with it.


	21. Chapter 21

All of us turned abruptly to look at a very pleased Tyler. Despite the multiple bruises and the steady flow of blood from his nostrils a deathly smiled was planted on his face. Some of the blood managed to drip into his mouth settling in the grooves of his teeth making him look like a cannibalistic killer out of a horror movie. Gerard began to inch closer ever so slowly, his eyes burning with rage. Tyler’s smile contorted into a snarl as Gerard smashed his hands down on the arms of the chair and leaned in, his face inches from Tyler’s.

“Go on then, explain” Gerard seethed.  
“You really only have yourself to blame here Gerard, if it wasn’t for you, those poor innocent souls of Belleville would still be alive rather than a part of a murder mystery case” Tyler leaned back smiling once again before continuing, “I really didn’t want to have to do what I did, neither did Ray but we were left with no option, he promised to help me and in return I would help him, simple, I needed help in exterminating you and he needed help removing that whore from the picture”  
A burst of air left my nose as I took a step toward Tyler, “Watch who you’re calling a whore you sick son of a bitch!”  
“Feisty” Tyler smiled growling suggestively. I scoffed and turned away feeling nausea rise up from the pit of my stomach.  
“Just get on with it Tyler , we don’t have time for your bullshit” Gerard diverted attention back to the topic at hand, obviously getting impatient.

“You. You were the problem Mr Way. I had everything perfect. Football, girls reeling at my presence, all the teachers kissed the ground I walked on giving me straight A’s and nothing less. But not you. Oh no, you had to fuck everything up. You brought down my average grade, taking me off the list for a scholarship. You fucking ruined everything I had, worked so fucking hard on since freshmen year. My parents lost it when they found out I failed. My dad beat the shit out of me. All thanks to you my life was ruined. That’s why I did what I did. I needed you gone, I didn’t care if you were dead or not just as long as you were gone. So after seeing those most graphic and grotesque paintings a thought occurred to me; why not frame you for murder, get you locked up for good, out of my life, ruin your reputation, you’d be shamed and hated by all. It was the perfect revenge. And there was nothing you could have done about it. That was of course until you’re friends decided to get involved and stick their fucking noses in my business!”

Gerard, Frank and I stood silent watching as Tyler’s face and body contorted with pure anger and rage. All of this over a fucking scholarship!?  
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Is this a joke?” I let out an obnoxious laugh of disbelief. Tyler just stared at me, not sure if I was joking or not.  
“This is the biggest load of fucking bullshit, you killed people, broke into our houses and kidnapped Mikey all over a fucking scholarship!? Are you serious? You have to be the most fucking stupid individual I’ve ever met, what the hell goes through that tiny little brain of yours!? Obviously not much if that was your genius plan to obtain a scholarship!” I couldn’t help myself as the palm of my hand smacked across Tyler’s cheek leaving a perfect red handprint. I was undeniably and immeasurably pissed off.

Tyler’s eyes glassed over as he hissed at me, “IT WOULD HAVE FUCKING WORKED IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU AND FUCKING FRANK! I’LLL FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU!”, he struggled and growled as he fought against the rope restraints.  
“This is bullshit, I’m calling the fucking cops” Frank huffed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He began to speak to the person on the other end but I paid no attention.

I turned my attention to a distressed looking Gerard. His body began to shake before he latched onto me in a forceful and needy hug. I awkwardly patted his back lightly and cooed quietly in his ear. He wasn’t crying, but I could tell that the emotional severity of the situation was beginning to get to him. Once Frank had finished on the phone he looked solemnly at me as I tried my best to comfort Gerard.

Somehow Frank managed to swap places with me and was holding Gerard close, “They said they’ll be here in under 10minutes” Frank said swatting away pieces of Gerard’s hair that fell on his face.

I let out a sigh, what emotion it possessed was not clear, maybe relief, maybe confusion, I didn’t know, all I knew was that in under 10 minutes police would come filling in here to take away Ray and Tyler and then hopefully everything would go back to normal. Although something gave me the feeling that with Frank, Gerard and Mikey as my friends normalcy was a thing of the past.

\-----X-----

I shuffled awkwardly in the hard plastic chair; my butt was beginning to go numb from not moving for so long as I tried to keep focused on the book in front of me. That and the multitude of plastic cups that once held liquid perfection(otherwise known as coffee) had begun to pile up next to me suggested that I probably was due to actually move, possibly even go outside for some fresh air. I let a small laugh escape my lips, no way was I going outside, I was at the best part of the book. Fresh air can wait.

The continuous beeping of the heart monitor machine began to get on my nerves, as did the near silent but still very much audible dripping of liquid from the bag that hung above the hospital bed. I sighed and placed my book on the table next to me before shifting my position to look at the hospital bed.

My gaze drifted along his slender body that was covered so gracefully by the white sheet. Two days I’d done this. Read. Drink coffee. Then just sit and stare. Waiting. Waiting for him to move, to do anything. I knew he was going to be okay, not because the doctors and nurses had told me so but because it was Mikey. He was always a fighter even though I’d only known him for such a short time.

Gerard and Frank and visited at random times but frequently over the last two days, begging me to leave and get some sleep, to get something to eat, to do anything other than sit in this room breathing in the noxious fumes of bleach and cleaning product. But I couldn’t. Mikey was like this because of me. Because of Ray’s infatuation that would have gone unnoticed if only Mikey hadn’t silently found something in me he seemed to like and decided to tell Ray all about it. I didn’t understand how such a sweet perfect boy could fall for someone like myself. I was the opposite of him, nothing pure about me, just flaws. And yet Mikey was the one that was stuck in a hospital bed, unconscious, recovering from severe blood loss and fighting against a poisonous sedative Ray had injected into is delicate body.

I let my hand slide underneath blanket and grasp onto his bony fingers. The initial iciness of his hand shocked me at first. If it weren’t for the constant beeping of the heart monitor I would have for sure though he was dead. A warmness escaped my eye and dripped down my cheeks. Occasionally over the last two days this had happened; a sudden burst of emotion taking over my body causing tears to fall freely and me to mutter incoherently about how sorry I was.  
“I am so sorry Mikes” I whispered quietly bringing his pale hand to my lips and leaving a small kiss.  
“What for?” A raspy voice asked.  
I shot my head up to come face to face with a smiling Mikey. I didn’t think before taking hold of his body in a tight embrace, the tears soaking his hospital gown. “Oh god Mikey, I am so sorry for all this it’s my fault, if I had just kept to myself like usual and not imposed on your friendships then this would never have happened, I can’t help but blame myself, I’m so sor-“.  
A bony finger being gently placed against my lips stopped my blabbering, “It’s not your fault, I’m fine, Gee and Frank are fine, you’re fine, everything is okay”.

I let out a small laugh at my own stupidity as Mikey used the pad of his thumb to wipe away the tear tracks on my cheeks. Heat began to rise up in my cheeks as he eyed my lips closely and moved towards me tilting his head to the side just a little. I let my eyelids fall shut and moved forward. We were so close I could feel the heat of his breath hit my skin.

“MIKEY!” Gerard’s shrill voice rang out through the small room causing me to jump backwards. I took a step away from the bed as Gerard ran to his brothers’ side and embraced him telling him how happy he was to have him back and how much he missed him.  
Frank just smiled apologetically and whispered as he walked past me towards Mikey, “Sorry for ruining the moment”.


	22. Chapter 22

I found myself to be smiling like an idiot as I watch Gerard and Mikey embrace. It wasn’t a long hug, nor was there any words transpired between the two. But there was something about it. Perhaps it’s just simply two brothers hugging. However something was nagging at the back of my brain as I watched, there was a moment, shared by the two brothers. A emotion, a feeling, a need, a madness, shared by the two that none could ever possible comprehend. That no one could ever stop, or impose on. Not Frank, not I, no one. It was surreal but in the best of ways, knowing that no matter what was to happen, how good or how bad, on an almost instinctual level the two would forever be connected, it’s almost poetic if one were to think about it for long enough.

My thoughts were disrupted as nurses and a rather burly man whom I assumed to be Mikey’s doctor began to stream through the door, crowding the already small space.  
“Do you need us to leave?” Frank asked, obviously uncomfortable with the amount of people in the room.  
“If you don’t mind”, One of the nurses’ said whilst smiling sweetly and pulling the curtain around the bed, blocking Mikey from our view.  
“Wait, do I have to leave?”, Gerard questioned, “I only just got here!”.  
“Shut up Gee, come on let’s get some coffee, we can visit Mikey once they’re done with whatever it is they’re doing” Frank giggled taking lacing his fingers with Gerard’s.

I followed the pair silently out of the room and we made our way down the white hallways. I always wondered how people worked in hospitals. The noxious fumes of bleach and other cleaning materials, the constant droning buzz of and occasional flicker of the lights, and not to mention being surrounded by poor souls whom are in state of suffering for whatever health related issue that caused them to be here in the first place. It kind of depressed me a little. I always felt unwelcome in hospitals, but at the same time I felt like I needed to stay and not leave until everyone who was here was okay, and feeling better to a point they could leave and get on with their lives. I knew, however, that this was a most unrealistic expectation and odd way of thinking, but my brain worked in strange ways when I stepped onto the white linoleum flooring of a hospital hallway.

Frank and Gerard must have found my silence and very noticeably solemn look somewhat disconcerting, trying to deduce what would be the right thing to say and why I was in the state I was in the first place. After all moments ago I had a smiled nearly etched permanently on my face.

Gerard and I slid into the seats at a small table that was like everything else, white and smelled of disinfectant. He sat across from me and instructed Frank to get three coffees, all with sugar and a dash of milk. Frank simply smiled and complied, but not without giving him a small peck on the lips first.

The tension and awkwardness rose as we both sat staring at each other. Gerard wanted to say something, he kept opening and closing his mouth as though he’d get a bolt of confidence but then it would dissipate leaving him questioning whether he really did want to say anything at all.

“It’s okay Gerard, after all we’ve been through social boundaries have been pretty much obliterated, whatever you need to say you can just say it”, I spoke nonchalantly never breaking eye contact.

He seemed to loosen up a little with my words, his shoulders fell back a bit and he let out a deep breath, “Sorry, it’s just, you seemed to so happy before and I couldn’t help but notice how quickly that changed when you left Mikey’s room and uh- you and Mikey, the whole-uhm-thing?”, He spoke the last bit as more of a question rather than statement, but to be fair he did walk in on us nearly kissing and we’d only known each other just over a week.

I had to think a little before I spoke, but I could tell he wanted this conversation to be quick, and by quick I mean before Frank returned with our coffee. “Well, I supposed hospitals aren’t exactly the most happy of places to be, it’s easy to put on a brave face and smile when you’re walking down the corridors holding the hand of the person you love more than anything, but when you’re alone with your thoughts and walking things are kinda put into perspective I suppose, the true depression of hospitals becomes apparent, in a very real scary way”. I watched Gerard’s face as he pondered over my words but also noticed Frank in my peripheral vision thanking the lady who handed him three Styrofoam cups, signalling I needed to wrap up this conversation relatively quickly. “As for the whole Mikey and I thing, well I don’t really have an answer because I’m not even sure what the situation is, it’s just kind of happening and neither of us are objecting so, uh, yeah”.

“You do like him though? You’re not just going along with it and playing with his emotions for the sake of it, my brother means the world to me Mira and I don’t want a single tear to be shed by him because of you” Gerard spoke a little forcefully, but I expected nothing less, it was his brother after all, his baby brother. He had a protective duty to fulfill.

“Gerard, I just spent the last two days sitting by his bedside, you think that if I didn’t truly care for him I would do that?,” I paused for a second before continuing, “I understand how much he means to you, but I can assure you he means a great deal to me too”.

Gerard was about to reply but stopped as three cups almost dropped into the table spilling their contents. Frank mumbled a small sorry as he slid one across to me then Gerard and took a seat, carefully sipping away at his drink.

“So, what where you guys talking about?” Frank smiled jovially, blissfully unaware.  
Gerard looked stumped for a moment, trying to think of some type of lie that the pair of us could both go along with. Quick thinking was obviously not his forte.

“Just talking about how good it is that Mikey’s awake and what we’ll do once he can come home” I smiled feeding off Frank’s happiness, “We thought maybe a horror movie marathon, considering the last ‘movie night’ we had got interrupted”.

Gerard didn’t say much after that, but Frank made up for his silence, chatting away about nothing in particular to whoever would reciprocate conversation, which most of the time was me. I suppose you had to congratulate Frank on his happiness, or perhaps it was more of an ‘ignorance is bliss’ situation, either way he gained the occasional smile from both Gerard and I and considering the conversation that had just transpired and the tension that somehow managed to make itself known, that in itself was quite the feat.


	23. Chapter 23

Frank continued to blab on about everything and nothing. Eventually Gerard and I stopped pretending to be interested and our false nodding and “oh yeah’s” stopped. Frank took no notice and continued on with his one sided conversation, only when Gerard planted a very sloppy kiss on his still moving lips did he shut up. Causing him to be quiet for long enough that I suggested we head back to Mikey. Surely the doctor and nurses where finished doing whatever it is they needed to. We made it back to Mikey’s room to find the doctor standing at the end of his bed scrawling away at clipboard.

“So, uh, is everything okay?” I asked entering the room and standing next to the bed.  
The doctor ignored me, not even looking up from his clipboard to recognise my presence.  
“Uhm, hello? Excuse me?” I said rudely.

I felt a hand wrap around mine and squeeze lightly. I looked down to see Mikey, his eye pleading with me. He looked…scared, terrified even.  
Gerard and Frank had taken up position on the other side of the bed seemingly frozen at the pure oddity of the scene before them.  
Mikey was terrified. The doctor was a rude bastard. And something just wasn’t right.

“This is the last time I’m going to be polite, EXCUSE ME!” I half yelled the last part letting go of Mikey’s hand and stepping towards the doctor.

Finally the doctor lifted his head up. He smirked at me with a shit eating grin and his eyes were such a dark shade of brown they looked close to black. He had ash black hair with a small amount of grey running through it, that along with a few wrinkles indicated he had to be in his late forties early fifties, at least. And to put it very simply - he looked fucking terrifying, and I now understood why Mikey was looked so scared, I wouldn’t want to be alone in a room with this guy - ever. I avoided his eyes as best I could and focused on his name tag that red Dr. Mark Fletcher in shiny gold print.

He cleared his throat, forcing me to make eye contact with him, before he spoke, “Michael’s poor fragile body had undergone a terrible amount of stress, he’ll need to stay admitted in hospital for a few days, then we’ll do another check and consider whether it is right to discharge him, also it think its best you keep visit brief and scarce, his body shouldn’t be put under any more stress than is necessary”, he spoke in a dark tone, that was sickly sweet but laced with a unmistakeable sourness.  
Gerard and Frank muttered small ‘okays’, I however wasn’t so willing to just leave Mikey alone, especially with this creeper.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I will most certainly not be keeping my visits ‘brief and scarce’, I think Mikey needs the company more than anything! Especially after everything’s that happened, he needs us here!” I quickly grabbed hold of Mikey’s hand again, trying to show that I was not leaving him.

Frank quickly came around to my side and pulled me towards the door, “Mira please, he’s the doctor just listen to him, don’t make this difficult”.

“You should listen to your friend Mira” he, Mark, said emphasising my name.

I felt sick just looking at him. I pulled away from Frank and let go of Mikey’s hand before exiting the room in the huff mumbling profanities. I ignored Franks’ calls for me to wait for him and Gerard and just continued hastily making my way down the labyrinth of hallways. My emotions were in the middle of a hurricane, one moment I was close to kissing Mikey, the next I was depressed wreck and now I was angry and pissed off. Nurses and doctors rushing around the halls soon turned into flustered moving blurs of whites and blues. Sounds of phones ringing and heart monitors beeping morphed into one big mess of piercing noise. I just wanted to go home. I needed space. I needed silence.

-X-

A shrill ringing next to my ear caused my body to jolt upright. Vertigo began to mess with my vision momentarily as I pushed my hair out of my face to take in my surroundings. My house. My bedroom to be exact. I was in my bed, still in the clothes I’d put on this morning to visit Mikey in hospital.

The continuous shrill ring of what I realised was my mobile snatched me from my thoughts, and only due to its repetitive annoyingness did I answer it.

“Hello” My voice was croaky and grogging from sleep.  
“Hey Mira? It’s about time you answered, I’ve been calling for hours, Gerard even knocked on the front door and no one answered. Where are you? Are you okay? Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Frank rambled on through the phone, speaking too fast for my still half asleep mind to process.  
“Whoa, Frank, hold on a minute, what time is it?”  
“9:30pm”  
“Holy shit, I’ve been asleep for like 6 hours”  
“Asleep? So you’re at home? Not like abducted or anything?”  
“No, not abducted, why would you think I was abducted?”  
“Well you practically ran out of the hospital, and then disappeared, you didn’t answer your phone or front door, I was freaking out, I thought maybe Tyler or Ray came back and you know….”  
“I pretty much ran home from the hospital, I must have like passed out once I got home, I don’t remember much it’s all kind of hazy from between leaving Mikey’s room until now”  
“As long as you’re alright, do you want Gee and me to come over? I’m at Gee’s place now”  
“No, no it’s fine, you two get some sleep or something, or do whatever it is that you two do, just be quiet, you may be across the street from me but you have quite the voice box my dear Frankie”  
“Oh really Frankie?” another voice came through, Gerard’s I’m guessing, I must have been on speaker.  
“uh-uhm-erm, I’m glad you’re alright Mira, we’ll talk later” Frank stammered before hanging up.  
I laughed to myself just imagining the scene that was going on across the road. Frank would be cherry red and flustered trying to avoid Gerard’s suggestive smirk and sly comments. And then what happened after that was not something I wanted mental images of.


	24. Chapter 24

My eyes shot open at the sound of my alarm ringing in my ears. I let out a small irritated grunt before rolling onto my stomach and slapping my hand down in random places on my night stand. After about the 10th slap, a sharp pain ran though my hand and up my arm as I hit the alarm clock. As much as it hurt, the ringing had subsided, and that’s all that mattered. I cracked open an eyelid just the tiniest of amount to check the time. 7:47am glowed in florescent green on the clock. Normally I would retreat back into comfortable slumber as it was Saturday, but I wanted to see Mikey before Dr. Douchebag had scheduled to see him at 9am.

I quickly hopped, well rolled, out of bed and got changed into jeans and hoodie. I grabbed a shoulder bag off my desk and put my phone, wallet and some comic books for Mikey in it before going downstairs. I carefully and slowly opened my bedroom door, knowing that my parents were most likely still asleep and that the hinges were rusty and creaked unbelievably loud at the slightest movement.

I quickly padded downstairs into the kitchen and made a hot chocolate. The steam covered my face in a sticky sheath as I blew on it in an attempt to cool it down. I finished the steaming cup in record time, burning my tongue and throat in the process. I slipped on a pair of shoes and did a double check I had everything I needed before realising my parents would probably assume, as Frank did, that I was abducted if I wasn’t here when they woke up. I ran back into the kitchen and scrawled a note on a piece of paper before sticking it to the fridge.

I made my way down the stone path and onto the sidewalk heading towards the hospital, sending Frank a text as I was walking. I knew he would be asleep but I thought I’d let him know I was visiting Mikey, just in case for some reason he decided to wake up early. Although I doubt that would be happening after last night. Frank was loud, very loud. The whole street would have heard him moaning and screaming obscenities.

I entered through the double doors of the hospital and was immediately knocked back from the smell of bleach and chatter of doctors and nurses scurrying around. I pulled my hood over my head and avoided the secretary that sat behind a desk near the entrance, it would be just my luck that the doctor restricted access to Mikey’s room and I didn’t particularly feel like being thrown out of a hospital this early in the morning. So I just kept to myself; hood up, head down.

I made it through the maze of hallways and finally landed at Mikey’s door. I peeked in through the window and saw Mikey sitting up drinking from a steaming mug. I watched him as he slowly lifted the mug away from his lips and placed in on the table next to him. As he pulled his hand away I noticed shaking. I looked at the other hand in his lap and it was the same; they were both shaking violently and he was obviously trying his hardest to still them.

I quietly opened the door and crept into the room, making sure to close the door once I was fully in. I just stood and watched him for a moment. He looked even worse than when he first arrived in hospital, he was visibly shaking and his eyes were sunken and bloodshot – almost like he’d been crying.

“Hey Mikes” I spoke softly enough that he would hear me but not be startled.

Mikey instantly turned his head to my direction and let a huge smile take over half his face, “Mira!”

I made my way over to the bed and hopped on it crossing my legs. I took Mikey’s hands in mine, interlocking our fingers and smiled sweetly at him, “What’s wrong Mikes?”

Mikey visibly stiffened at my question and averted his eyes from my gaze, “No-nothing, why would you think something is wrong?”

“Because look at you! You’re shaking like crazy, and your eyes are all red and puffy, you’ve been crying and I know when someone’s been crying so don’t you dare lie to me Michael Way, tell me what’s wrong?”

Mikey sniffled as tears began to cascade down his cheeks, “I-I was”

“You were? Mikey please tell me” I pleaded, placing my hands on his tear stained cheeks and cupping his face.

“He-he- last night – he came in here and-”

“Ah, Michael, nice to see you awake” Dr. Fletcher strolled into the room cutting Mikey off before he could finish his sentence. The second he saw me he glared daggers and contorted his face into a scowl, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same, you’re not meant to be here until 9am” I spat, gripping onto Mikey’s hands a little too hard.

“You were told yesterday not to visit Michael, I’m going to have to ask that you leave”

“What? I only just got here! Besides there’s no rules as to when I can and cannot visit Mikey, so you can kindly fuck off, I’m staying right here”

“Use of such language is not permitted in this hospital, and as you refuse to leave I will have to have you removed, and from now on you are not to visit Michael, you are banned from this hospital”, his words were like venom as he smiled and watched my face ignite with anger.

“You can’t ban people from the hospital!”

“If they prove to be a danger and/or unbeneficial to the recovery of a patient then yes I very well can”, he widened his grin now showing off his teeth as two large burly men stormed into the room and stood beside him, “Remove her”.

“What!?” I tried to get away from the two security guards who moved towards me. In one swift motion they restrained my arms and pulled me away from a terrified Mikey. “LET ME GO!” I screamed fighting against the grasp they had on my arms. They forced me out the door and I caught one last glimpse of Mikey before he disappeared out of sight; he was weeping while Dr. Fletcher used his fingers to give me a small wave. Bastard.


	25. Chapter 25

The two security guards practically threw me out of the double doors that were the entry of the hospital. One scoffed loudly before growling at me, “Don’t come back!”, and then turning and disappearing back into the building. I curled my hands into fists and the blood ran to my face causing my veins to pulsate. I was livid. I stormed off down the footpath towards Mikey and Gerard’s house, I needed someone to talk to – well yell at. I ignored the flustered and angry responses from others as I accidently knocked into them in my stage of rage, not bothering to apologise.

If I wasn’t perhaps so transfixed on my pure pulsating rage then I probably would have noticed and realised that the Way’s front door was locked for a reason. But instead I let out a growl, threatening the painted wood, before storming off the porch and thumping around to the side gate. I made my way through the back garden making sure to knock over a few gnomes before storming into the house and practically leaping up the stairs.

If I had a taken a moment to knock, or perhaps just stop to listen then I wouldn’t have been greeted with the sight that I was. Ignoring common courtesy I barged into Gerard’s room letting the door fly wide open and hit the wall with a loud bang. The bang not only made me completely take in what I had just laid eyes on but also caused the two males to stop their activity and, apart from snapping their heads in my direction, freeze completely.

A very naked Gerard pinned underneath an equally nude Frank. Nothing was left to the imagination as everything was in full view. Gerard’s pale torso and Frank’s rather perky ass and of course their manhood; which seemed to be affected quite substantially due to the previous make-out session. That I am presuming was on the road to turning into a Part 2 of lasts nights little bed-time adventure that I had the unfortunate pleasure of listening too.

Frank let out a girlish squeal grabbing at any blanket or article of clothing to cover himself and Gerard. “For fucks sake Mira do you not understand how to knock!?”, he whined pulling up the comforter over his body.

“It’s not my fault you two can’t keep your goddamn hands out of each other’s pants for like 12hours!”

“What are you talking about?” Frank asked crossing his arms across his chest.

“Last night Frankie” I smiled as I watched the colour drain from Frank’s face. Gerard just smirked obviously finding the humour in the situation.

I let out a small laugh and stepped closer to the bed, “Oh Gee, Oh yeah, right there baby, GEE!” I closed my eyes as I imitated Frank trying not to burst out laughing. Opening them once again Frank had pulled the comforter over his head and huddled under it, obviously trying to hide just how embarrassed he was.

He let out a small muffled whimper before speaking, “You heard?”

I laughed a little too obnoxiously, “I heard? Frank the whole damn street heard, when I said you were loud I didn’t think you were that loud”.

Gerard let out a loud snort and fell into hysterics. Frank poked his head out slightly from under the blanket glaring at Gerard, “Fuck you Gerard”.

Gerard continued to guffaw and wrapped and arm around Frank’s shoulder, “Oh come on Frankie, it’s pretty funny besides I don’t care how loud you were, you were fantastic if you ask me”, he smiled placing butterfly kisses along Frank’s jaw.

“Ahem! I am still here! So please restrain yourselves from fornicating whilst I’m in the vicinity”

“Well?” Gerard raised an eyebrow at me.

“Well what?” I questioned confused.

“Well why are you here in the first place?”

It took me a minute to reply, after what I had just witnessed I had almost completely forgotten about the whole hospital situation, “I may or may not have gotten banned from the hospital….”

“What? How do you get banned from a hospital?” Frank asked wriggling further out from under the comforter.

I cringed a little not wanting to admit I got into a fight with a doctor. Frank noticed and let out an irritated sigh.

“You fought with that doctor again didn’t you?” Frank let out an irritated sigh.

“Okay fine, so maybe I did argue a little, but it’s not my fault! Mikey was upset and he was just about to tell me why when Dr.Douchebag decided to barge into the room! You should have seen how fucking terrified Mikey was when he saw him! I know that doctor did something to Mikey and I intent on finding what is was!.....That’s uh, why I came here actually, since I’m banned I’m going to need your help to sneak in…” I swapped my gaze between Frank and Gerard waiting for one to respond.

Frank, of course, was the first to do so, “You want us to break you into a fucking hospital! Are you crazy!? And what do you mean ‘he did something to Mikey?’”

“I don’t know okay! I don’t know what he did! But no one is that afraid of a doctor for no good reason! He was crying Frank! And trembling, he couldn’t still his own hands he was so scared! Now, I don’t care for your trying to comprehend the situation, I want your help, will you help me or not?”

Frank and Gerard both spoke at the same time, “No”, “Yes”.

Frank looked at Gerard like he was crazy, “Yes? Gerard no, no we are not getting involved, Mikey is fine it’s just-I don’t know, maybe it’s the stress of the situation or something, the doctor may be creepy but that’s all! We’re going to get dragged into another bad situation if we go along with this!”

“Didn’t you hear her? He was crying. Mikey Way was crying, Mikey never cries not unless he is severely upset, I know this for a fact – the kid broke both his arms one day and didn’t shed a single tear! And even if it turns out to be nothing, he’s my brother I can’t just sit back and do nothing,” Gerard smiled at me, “I’ll help you”.

“Thank you Gerard, so Frank what do you say? Are you in?”

Frank huffed loudly, “Ugh okay fine, I’ll help you”.

“Yes! Thank you, thank you! I would hug you right now, but you’re – uh, slightly naked so I’m not gonna do that…”

“Speaking of naked you reckon you could leave for just a moment while we get dressed” Frank asked shuffling towards the end of the bed.

“Wait what? No morning sex Frankie?” Gerard feigned shock.

Frank’s face went deadpan and replied by using the pillow to slap Gerard in the face.

“Alright, that’s my queue to leave, I’ll be downstairs when you two are ready” I half ran out of the room not wanting to see any more than I already had – although considering I saw then both completely nude there wasn’t really anything left for the imagination.

I hurried down the stairs when I heard the sound of giggling float from Gerard’s room. Those two were unbelievable all they ever seemed to do was have their hands down the others pants. I made it to the kitchen and thankfully was greeted with silence. Considering my options I guessed Frank and Gerard would most likely be a while and relatively tired and as I needed their full attention to explain my plan, I decided on making three extremely large and potent mugs of coffee.

Gerard and Frank stumbled into the living room where I was waiting. They each took a still steaming mug and sipped quietly whilst settling on the couch opposite me.

“So uh you need our help, but what exactly do we need to do?” Gerard said breaking the silence.

“Well, uhm it’s not breaking in exactly well not for you guy at least, Mikey has a room on the bottom floor, so I was thinking that you guys could go in this afternoon and leave the window open for me so that I can sneak in later tonight”

“So you are practically breaking in?” Frank said monotonously.

“Okay fine, I am breaking in, but it’s the only way I can get into the hospital and be able to actually visit Mikey without Dr. Douchebag getting in my way and maybe Mikey will finally be able to tell what is wrong….he-he was so upset, I just can’t leave him there like that, I’d never forgive myself if he got hurt,” my voiced cracked a little as I spoke.  
I didn’t realise how protective I had become of Mikey. We were, after all, still just friends but I felt like I had some kind of obligation and need to keep him safe; to make sure he was happy.

“Right then, well Frankie how about I take you out for breakfast then we go visit Mikey?” Gerard smiled kissing Frank on the nose.

“Sounds good to me Gee” Frank giggle returning the kiss but this time it was on the lips.

“Ugh you guys are so adorable it’s disgusting” I groaned leaving the living room with my mug of slightly cold coffee.


	26. Chapter 26

I lay sprawled out on the Way’s couch watching through the window as the sky formed a polychrome of oranges, reds and pinks as the sun made its descent in the sky. Frank and Gerard had left hours earlier to visit Mikey and so I was left alone to try my best and pass the time. I could have gone home, but neither of my parents where there and had locked the door when they left to go wherever they were thus locking me out of the house. So therefore home wasn’t really a great option to cure my boredom. One good thing about the Way household was the endless supply of coffee; I stopped counting after my 6th mug.

The room began to darken considerably and the sky outside had lost its streaks of colour and gone a deep navy. I found myself to by sitting in darkness and became increasingly uneasy with the silence of the empty house and the memories of the last time I was here flooding my over-caffeinated brain.

An explosion of light accompanied by a high pitched ringing filled the room. My body jolted in shock from the outburst causing me to half fall off the couch and hit the side of my head on the coffee table. Ignoring the throbbing ache I used one arm to lift my upper body from the ground and the other to grab the phone that was still ringing and casting an eerie glow throughout the room.

“He-hello?” I mumbled into the phone rubbing at the back of my head trying to soothe the pain.

“It’s Gerard, the hospitals visiting hours close in about 15minutes, Frank and I left the window open and we are just leaving the hospital now, we’ll be home in five, be ready” Gerard spoke a record speed and hung up before I had the chance to reply.

I looked down at my dishevelled clothing and let out a groan realising I was going to need to change into something darker to assure I wouldn’t be seen. I’m sure Gerard wouldn’t mind if I borrowed some of his clothes, and if he did well I don’t care, so I’m borrowing something either way. I pulled myself from the couch wincing as my bones cracked and clicked with each movement. I took the stairs two at a time and entered Gerard’s room puffing just a little. I flicked on the light switch and looked around, there was stuff everywhere, paper, pencils and paint, not to mention various comics and books that sat everywhere except on the bookshelf. My eyes locked on a mountain of clothing in the corner of the room, there was a deep mahogany contraption buried underneath the clothing and I presumed it was supposed to be his dresser.  
I filed my way through the clothes picking out an entirely black outfit – jeans, shirt, jacket and beanie. I peeled off the clothes I had and swapped into my new black ensemble which was far too big me, the shirt went halfway down my thighs and I had to find a belt just to keep the jeans from falling down to my ankles.

I heard the clicking of the latch on the front door and muffled voices travel up through the house. I left Gerard’s room and flew down the stairs meeting Frank and Gerard of whom where both, coincidentally, dressed in all black.

“Well look at that! We all match and look like robbers, no one will suspect a thing” I spoke sarcastically and winked.

“This was your idea Mira, if we get caught it’s your fault” Frank said crossing his arms across his chest.

“Is that my jacket? And shirt, and jeans and beanie?” Gerard questioned raising an eyebrow.

“Sure is, sorry I needed some black clothes, my parents locked me out of the house and I have no idea where they are, but they think I’m staying at Franks’ place so it’s all good” I smiled.

“My mum thinks I’m staying at your place” Frank giggled a little.

“Well now that we’ve established you two are fabulous liars how about we get a move on, the hospital should be closed up by now, the receptionist was gone by the time we left” Gerard said walking out the door.

Frank and I just shrugged before following Gerard out of the house. I made sure to lock the door behind me before hopping down the stairs of the porch and joining Frank and Gerard in the car.  
The drive to hospital was short but silent. It was true we did look like a bunch of thieves, all of us dressed in black and using a black car with tinted windows. Although I don’t see why you would want to rob a hospital anyways, they don’t have large amounts of cash in them, only place you’d find money was the cafeteria and I doubt there is a gold mine behind the counter, couple hundred at best.

A though occurred to me whilst I was thinking about our hypothetical thievery escapade – why where Gerard and Frank wearing black? It’s not like they were coming in with me, If I was to get caught then I couldn’t bare knowing I got them in trouble because of me, especially when what I am about to do is technically illegal.

I let out an awkward cough to capture their attention before speaking, “Uh, how come you guys are wearing black?”

“Same reason as you, we don’t want to get seen, why?” Frank swivelled in his seat to face me.  
“Wait, you guys aren’t coming with me, you two can wait in the car I don’t want to risk all of us getting in trouble if we get caught”

“Of course we’re coming with you, don’t be stupid, we’re not letting you go alone!”

“Ha! You didn’t even want to help me in the first place Frank, plus all I am doing in climbing through a window you guys don’t need to assist me. I just need you be on the lookout for security guards for me, so that I don’t get caught, and if for some reason I do then I will be only one to suffer the consequences, I’m not having you guys suffer along with me, especially when I only have myself to blame for getting into this predicament in the first place.”

“But-“ Frank started.

“No, no buts, I’m going alone”

Frank huffed at turned back around his seat, “You’re so damn stubborn.”

“You love it” I laughed.

We made it to the hospital and parked in the deserted lot out the back of the building. I hurried out of the car, Frank and Gerard soon to follow.

“You two wait here, I’ll text you if something goes wrong” I looked at them both and watched them exchange glances, “I’m serious! Stay here, don’t you dare follow me”.

“Ugh fine! Okay we will stay here, just don’t take too long, I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you” Frank said kicking at a loose piece of gravel.

I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I’m just going through a window, nothing is going to happen, relax Frankie, I’ll be fine”, I finished by wrapping my arms around his small frame and smiling once again.

I let out a deep breath and began to run across the parking lot disappearing into the shadows once I made it to the side of the building. I stuck close to the brick wall, my hands and back lightly grazing against it as I walked counting the windows I passed, Mikey’s room was the 16th one along.

I stopped as I reached the 16th window and saw it was cracked open slightly. I peered into the room and saw the curtain pulled around the bed restricting me from being able to see Mikey. Trying my best to be silent I grasped onto the bottom of the window and pushed it upwards to open it further; luckily it didn’t make a sound.

I used my arms to lift my body off the ground and as quietly and gracefully as I could I hoisted myself onto the windowsill. I swung my legs into the room and then leapt, landing on the linoleum floor with a near silent thud. I smiled thinking to myself that I had made it without being caught. Fuck yes. I stopped revelling to myself over my achievement when I heard sniffling and a grunt come from behind the curtain. I froze, my feet sticking to ground glue and refusing to move.

Small whimpers continued to fill the room followed by a loud slap. This repeated. Whimpers, slap. Whimpers, slap. The cycle broke after about the fourth time when a voice filled the room. An all too familiar voice.  
“Stop fucking crying you piece of shit!” the voice growled.  
Dr. Mark Fletcher.  
“P-please, s-s-stop” Mikey stuttered, his voice hoarse and pleading.  
“Shut up and do what you’re told!” Another slap. More crying. “Suck”.  
The second the word hit my ears every part of my body tense up with pure fury. I balled my fists and let large burst of air huff from my nose. The sick bastard.


	27. Chapter 27

I had to hold my palm against my mouth to stop me from screaming obscenities. My bottom lip began to tremble and I had to bite down to still it. I was still frozen in my place; enraged and petrified. If he could do this to Mikey then what would stop him trying to do it to me. I wasn’t muscular or strong in any way – there was very little I would be able to do to overthrow him in a physical situation. A metallic taste filled my mouth and a warmness dripped down my chin. My teeth had torn the flesh on my lip and blood pumped out staining my chin and lips a deep red.

“N-no-please j-just leave me a-alone, I won’t tell anyone I-I swear, please” Mikey’s voice filled the room once again as he struggled to form words between whimpers.  
“Shut up!”, Dr. Fletcher growled.  
“P-please, I swear I won’t te-,“ Mikey’s pleas where cut short by a tortured gagging noise.

I had to stop myself from gagging myself. The images of what was going on behind the curtain that was less than a mere meter from me made my stomach churn. My breaths began to increase as I realised the true weight of the situation. Mikey was being raped and what was I doing? Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything. Something. I had to do something.

My eyes darted around the dark of the room trying to make out shapes or objects that could serve as weaponry. I couldn’t rely on my strength – or lack thereof – to aid in my ‘rescue’ attempt. A flash of light caught my eyes as I spun on my heel. I squinted a little to try and see what the light was reflecting off. A vase. A glass vase. If I could beat Gerard with a bowl then I sure as hell could take down this guy with a vase. Well I hoped I could, at least.

I winced as I began to move from my frozen position and advanced on the glimmering vase praying that my bones wouldn’t crack from my previous lack of movement. My movements where slow and methodical as I tried to put as little of my weight onto my feet and took unreasonably large steps. I wrapped my hands around the glass grasping it tightly before pulling it close to my chest. Knowing my lack of coordination there was a large chance I would drop it – but with the situation as dire as it was dropping the vase was not an option.

I bent down to the ground and stuck my head slightly under the curtain tying to see where exactly Dr. Fletcher was located. The last thing I wanted was him to see me before I got a chance to get at least one hit with the vase. Bile burned the back of my throat as I saw Mikey’s tear stained face and look of pure anguish as Dr. Fletcher thrust himself into Mikey’s mouth.  
I moved back letting the curtain fall to the ground again and got to my feet. I walked to where the end of the bed was hidden behind the curtain knowing that Dr. Fletcher had his back towards me. My hand shook as I clasped onto the curtain and slowly pulled it away revealing the entire scene before me. Mikey’s small body was writhing underneath Dr. Fletcher who was straddling his chest. His arms and legs where secured to the sides of the bed with what looked like torn pieces of material and they were covered in blood.

I clutched the vase tighter in both hands before raising it above my head. My arms began to move on their own as they flew down. A loud smash echoed through the room. Fragments of glass rained over my body and danced across my skin leaving little cuts that soon began to drip blood. Ignoring the stinging that ran over my body I used all by strength to push off the now limp body of Dr. Fletcher off Mikey. I watched as his body fell from the bed and landed on the floor with a sickening crack. He broke something, maybe a nose, hopefully a neck.

It took me a moment to realise why a searing pain had erupted from my hands. I looked down to see pieces of glass sticking out from open wounds that were pulsating blood onto the white sheets of the bed. Wailing soon averted my attention from my hands to a completely unstable Mikey. His sobs and whimpers were wails and cries. His face was red and blotchy and spit and bodily fluids dribbled down his chin.

I didn’t say a word knowing that I wouldn’t have gotten a response anyways and set to untying his arms and legs. The material had cut into his skin so much that I had to almost peel it away in order to detach it. I used a clean area of sheet to wipe Mikey’s chin and cover his lower half that was exposed. His wails had now turned to sobs and he used is hands to cover his face.  
I had no idea what to do. Mikey was a wreck. I couldn’t hold him or comfort him as the skin on my hands had been torn to shreds from the stray pieces of glass. I wanted so badly just to hug him, to wrap him in my arms and tell him that he was okay and everything would be fine. But I’d be lying and lying was never something I was good at. Things weren’t fine. Mikey wasn’t fine. Mikey was broken. And I didn’t know if I would be able to fix him.

I hadn’t realised I had begun to cry until the tears dripped onto the palm of my hand and mixed with the blood that had congealed slightly. I didn’t try and wipe away the tears nor try to stop them. I just them flow, let them cascade, let them do as they pleased. It was quite a sight; Mikey sobbing on the bed and me standing and watching whilst I cried silently.

A vibrating sensation ran through my leg stunning me at first. I pulled the phone from my pocket not checking the caller ID.  
“H-hello?,” I sniffled into the phone.  
“MIRA! Jesus what is taking so long? Are- are you crying? Holy shit are you okay? Do you need us to come and get you? Fuck it, we’re coming anyway!,” Gerard yelled through the phone and hung up before I could reply. I honestly don’t think I could have anyways, my throat ached, my body ached, hell, even my mind ached.

I’m not sure what happened between the end of the phone call and the sound of Mikey’s voice. Everything was a blur going in slow motion and ultra-speed all at once.  
“Ge-Gera-Gerard,” Mikey choked out between sobs.  
I used the pad of my thumb to wipe away a few stray tears from Mikey’s cheek, “He’s coming, he’ll be here soon Mikes, I promise.”

Mikey’s eyes fluttered closed at my words, he wasn’t asleep I knew that, I think he just wanted to think he was. Think that for a moment this was all a bad dream. That he’d wake up sprawled on the couch next to Gerard; empty bowl of popcorn at their feet and cushions and blankets serving as a makeshift bed. However as Gerard flung himself through the window and cradled Mikey in his arms, I knew Mikey would realise this was no dream, there was no popcorn bowl, there was no makeshift bed. There was only pain.


	28. Chapter 28

Frank and I stood back watching Gerard and Mikey. Gerard had his hands on either side of Mikey’s cheeks cupping his face. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but both brothers where enthralled with one another; grasping on to each other tightly, crying and sobbing in unison, and words being spilled from Gerard’s mouth that seemed to soothe Mikey.

“What did you see?,” Frank whispered in my ear. I realised that neither he nor Gerard actually knew the severity of the situation. They didn’t know why Dr. Fletcher was on the ground in a pool of blood or why Mikey was so terrified and upset.

More tears rolled down my cheeks as I cried silently, “He was raped, Frank. I came in and heard whimpering. And then I saw him on Mikey, holding him down and-he-h-he forced himself on Mikey, I-don’t- I just- I can’t tell you any more Frank, it’s too much, I feel ill thinking about it.”  
Frank wrapped his arms around me in a hug, his own tears dampening my shirt as he tried to comfort either myself or him – I don’t know which one, I didn’t care.

Gerard turned his head to Frank and I, “Can-can you two please go, wait at the car or take it home, just please leave.”

Frank and I detached from one another without a word. We continued the silence as we helped on another through the window and walked back to the car. Neither of us took another look at Mikey or Gerard. Both were tear stained and tortured from the events of the night.

Frank took my hand in his as we walked through the darkness as a means of support for us both. We wanted to be there for Mikey, Gerard too, but mainly Mikey. But all we had was each other. Mikey needed his brother and Gerard needed Mikey.

“You can crash at mine if you want, I’ve got a spare mattress so you won’t be completely sleeping on the floor,” I forced a smile at Frank who slid into the drivers’ seat of the car.

He nodded as he turned on the ignition, “Thanks Mira.”

-X-

My parents bombarded me with questions the second Frank and I stumbled through the door. ‘Where were you?’ ‘You’re supposed to be at Franks’ why is he here?’ ‘You look awful what happened?’

My mother was the worst, grasping onto my shoulders and kissing my cheeks then pulling me into numerous bone crushing hugs, “Mira! Tell us now! What happened?,” she raised her voice a little trying her hardest to coax an answer out of me.

“Mum! Mum, please, can we talk in the morning, I don’t want to talk about it now, Frank and I are going to bed, goodnight,” I said pulling Frank away from my parents and up the stairs. My parents didn’t know about Frank and Gerard and I knew exactly what they would be insinuating but given the circumstances I really couldn’t care less.

I stumbled into my room with Frank close behind and didn’t even bother to change into pyjamas before falling onto my bed. Frank just stood awkwardly staring at me.

“Uh, you said something about a mattress?”

“Ugh-fuck it Frank just sleep in my bed I don’t care, I’m too tired to give a shit about anything right now.”

I felt the bed dip a little as Frank lay down next to me, “You think Mikey will be alright?”

“Mikey survived a kidnapping and a poisoning and now he gets raped by some sick doctor…I keep telling myself he’ll be fine, he’s strong, he can pull through, but I don’t know, Mikey’s not going to wake up tomorrow and be fine, he’s broken Frank, and I don’t know if we can fix him.”

For the second time that night Frank gripped tightly on my hand, “We’ll be there for him, I don’t think so much about fixing him because I don’t think he’s broken, I think he’s cracked and just needs some repair, and I think if we are all there for him and make sure he knows how loved he is that he’ll come out of this stronger than ever before, he’ll be a whole new Mikey but still the same loveable dork.”

I allowed myself to smile - a genuine smile – and giggle a little at Frank, “Goodnight Frank.”

“Night Mira.”

And with that I let my eyelids fall shut, I didn’t even bother re-arranging my body to get comfy, I just slipped into sleep. A dreamless, peaceful sleep with Frank’s hand still wrapped tightly around mine.

-X-

It had been one week. Mikey was out of hospital. My parents thought Frank and I were dating since my mother decided to let herself into my bedroom and saw us asleep holding hands. Gerard had been distant. Mikey hadn’t seen Frank or me at all. He didn’t ask to see us and so we didn’t ask to see him.

Currently Frank and I sat watching Sweeney Todd on the Way’s couch. Just because we didn’t ask to see Mikey doesn’t mean we weren’t there for him. Frank and I would come over every day, sit around, watch movies and drink coffee. Gerard was there for some of it, but not much, he spent a lot of his time with Mikey which we understood and respected.

Gerard and Mikey’s parents made an appearance the day Mikey got out of hospital. Their father, Donald, had made us all sit at the kitchen table when Mikey was finally asleep after he got home from hospital. He said he had some explaining to do in regards to Dr. Mark Fletcher.

“Mark Fletcher is not a doctor, nor a stranger to our family. He and I worked together when Gerard and Mikey were kids and we were close friends. Often we’d invite him over for lunches and dinners. I should have noticed sooner that something was wrong but I was ignorant. After one visit Mikey and Gerard were playing in the garden and Gerard had accidently grabbed onto Mikey’s hips. Mikey screamed at the top of his lungs and burst into tears, he was inconsolable for hours. We had no idea what was wrong, Gerard hadn’t grabbed him hard so we knew he wasn’t hurt. Mikey told his mother and I that night why he was so upset. Turns out Mark had been abusing him for years right under our noses, he had touched Mikey every single time we invited him over to the house and Mikey was scared that Gerard was going to do the same when he grabbed his hips. We reassured him about Gerard, told him that he was his brother and he’d never hurt him, we never told Gerard why Mikey was so upset. I issued a report to the police and got a restraining order against Mark, but the police never found him, he disappeared after I went to the police about him. We moved here to our new home after that, and everything was fine. Mikey seemed to forget about what happened and we thought Mark was out of our lives for good, but obviously not,” Mr Way had broken down into tears once he finished telling the story, so did Mrs. Way.

Frank and I excused ourselves after that leaving Gerard and his parents in the kitchen. We didn’t need to be there any longer, this was strictly a family situation. There was yelling, cursing and more tears. Frank and I listened from the living room. Gerard had disregarded his parents and us for hours after that.  
The Way parents had been scarce and hadn’t spoken to Frank and I since that day.

So that’s what basically led us to now with Frank and I sitting in silence re-watching a movie we’d seen a thousand times before silently hoping the other would say something, anything, to break the silence. Luckily for me Frank did just that.

“You think Mikey will ever want to see us again?,” He asked sitting up from his previous position on the couch.

“Of course he will, he just needs time, eventually he’ll walk down those stairs and we’ll both be here for him, I can understand if he doesn’t want hugs or for us to be all over him, but even something as simple as a hello will be enough for me,” I sighed a little with thoughts of Mikey infiltrating my mind. I began to realise just how much I missed him, missed his company.

“I suppose I can manage a hello,” A voice behind us said just above a whisper.

Frank and I nearly fell off the couch at the sound. We shot to our feet and stared at Mikey who stood next to Gerard.

“Frank can you come help me make some coffee?” Gerard smiled and grabbed Frank’s wrist pulling him to the kitchen.

Mikey and I stood awkwardly for a moment. I kept my head down and kicked at the floor not knowing what to say or do. Suddenly a pair of bony arms wrapped around my waist and I found myself being pulled into a tight hug. Mikey rested his head on my shoulder before whispering in my ear.  
“Thank you.”

I pulled away from the hug looked at Mikey completely confused, “thank you? I didn’t do anything Mikey, why are you thanking me?”

“You practically saved me Mira, you knew something was wrong even when I couldn’t admit to it and when Gerard and Frank didn’t believe you, and then you saved me when you hit him with the vase, who knows what else he would have done to me, I owe you Mira, but all I can give you right now is a thank you, so thank you,” Mikey smiled lacing our fingers together. We stayed like that for a moment; just standing there with our fingers intertwined, enjoying each other’s presence.

“You mind if we go outside? We can sit in the garden and talk, I just need some fresh air,” Mikey said edging towards the door that led out the back of the house. I nodded and followed behind him out into the garden.

The sun had begun to sink in the sky leaving everything with an orange pink hue. The garden seemed to come to life in the early evening, crickets were chirping and birds had perched themselves on the picketed fence tweeting lightly. Mikey led me to the back of the garden where a slightly rusty white metal bench was located. We sat down close to each other and Mikey had a small smile on his face as he looked around at the flowers and plants.

“It’s nice to get outside, I’ve cooped myself up all week.”

“It’s not your fault, after what you’ve been through I’d probably never leave my room again.”

“I have to apologise for doing that, locking myself away and not seeing you or Frank, I just felt so ashamed, I felt like you two wouldn’t want to see me or be around me anymore because I was dirty or unclean…,” I could see the glimmer of tears form in Mikey’s eyes as he spoke.

I used my fingertips to lift his chin and look directly at me, “Mikey Way listen to me - Frank and I will be there for you every single day no matter what happens to you, we love you and we’d never think anything less of you than perfection.”

Mikey smiled and took my hands in his once again. Both of us lost ourselves in the moment and didn’t even realise that we had been slowly inching closer. Mikey’s hot breath brushed against my lips sending a tingling sensation to run through my body. Both of us jolted forward at the same time crashing our lips together. We moved together in sync kissing the other with the same amount of love and happiness. Mikey’s arms wrapped around my waist and my arms slung around the back of his neck as the kiss continued and we both got lost in tasting and relishing in each others lips.

I pulled away first puffing a little as my lungs demanded air, Mikey was much the same breathing heavily. We both laughed and hugged once again. I nuzzled into the crook of Mikey’s neck and planted a light kiss against his soft skin.  
“Does this mean we are a ‘thing’?” Mikey giggled.  
I let out a small laugh, “I guess it does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all! there will only be one more chapter after this, so I'll take the time now to thank you all for reading and being so kind about this story! I'm glad you've been enjoying it! :) x


	29. Chapter 29

Mikey squeezed my hand as we both gazed up at the wooden door in front of us.  
“I don’t think I want to do this anymore, can we just go home?” He pleaded turning away from the door.  
“Mikey, come on this will help you I promise, just do at least one session, if you don’t like it you don’t have to come back,” I smiled and pulled him back.  
“Ugh I just don’t want to see a psychologist, I don’t want to see another doctor ever again.”  
“I’m sorry Mikey, just give it a go, that’s all I ask.”  
Mikey smiled and pulled me into a hug, “One session, only because I can never win an argument with you.”  
“And don’t you forget that either,” I giggled.

Suddenly the wooden door flew open and a giddy young blonde haired man appeared. He had a genuine smile planted on his face and an aura of happiness seemed to just linger around his small body.  
“Hi, I’m Dr. Stump, but you can call me Patrick, Dr. Stump makes me feel old,” He held out a hand towards Mikey and Mikey held back a little before shaking it.  
“So you must be Mikey and you are..?”  
“Oh uh, I’m Mira, Mikey’s femme fatale, nice to meet you,” I smiled and shook his outstretched hand.  
“So, Mikey we’ll get started, just take a seat on the couch,” Patrick moved to the side and gestured to the room behind him.  
I gave Mikey a quick hug, “You’ll be fine.”

Mikey smiled and kissed my lips lightly before entering the room. I used my fingers to give him and Patrick a little wave as the door began to close and they both were soon out of my view.  
“Wait!” Mikey’s voice called out and a loud bang came from inside the room. The door flew open and Mikey puffed from the quick movement.  
“Mira can-can you stay? Please? I want you to be here for this wi-with me,” he tried to avoid eye contact and stuttered a little.  
I let out a small laugh and pulled Mikey into a hug, “Of course”.

-X-

One Month. It had been one month since the incident. Mikey did go back to therapy and every time he went I was there with him. We sat together on the couch, our fingers intertwined as Mikey told Patrick everything. His childhood. The kidnap. The rape. All the good. All the bad. I would be lying if I said it was easy, there were tears, many of them. But Mikey always seemed to leave each session with a smile and I couldn’t help but admire him for that.

“Cheat!” Frank whined as I laid down my letters on the scrabble board.  
“What? How am I cheating?” I retorted.  
“Guys please, can you two get through one game of scrabble without fighting?” Gerard was sprawled out on the grass next to us in the Way’s backyard and lifted his head from the book he was reading.  
“We wouldn’t have this problem if you didn’t cheat!” Frank continued to whine, “Semen is not an acceptable word.”  
“Since when? It’s English and it’s in the dictionary, look it up if you want clarification although I’m sure you’re familiar with what semen is,” I smirked at Frank. He was looking more annoyed by the second.  
“Really Mira? Semen? That’s the only word you could make?” Gerard asked as he crawled over to Franks’ side.  
“I can only work with what I’ve got, I didn’t exactly have an array of letters to work with.”  
“I refuse to play scrabble with you again.”  
“Only cause’ I’m winning.” I winked before using my hand to flip the board and send the golden lettered blocks flying through the air.

Frank finally lightened up and joined Gerard and I in a fit of laughter. We all fell back onto the grass and relished in the small amount of sunlight being emitted from the setting Saturday sun. I closed my eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath of air. The pungent but pleasant smell of roses filled my nostrils and left an odd warm feeling in my chest. I reopened my eyes and had a mini heart attack when I was met with a glowing pair of hazel eyes inches above mine.

“Jesus Mikey you scared the shit out of me,” I said pushing him backwards as I sat up. He laughed and placed a small butterfly kiss on my nose.  
“Grab your jacket, we’re going out,” he pulled me to my feet and then walked off into the house without another word.

I was frozen for a moment before I realised I needed to be following Mikey. I didn’t bother saying goodbye to Frank or Gerard before running into the house after Mikey. I made it to the living room and grabbed my jacket from the couch when I heard the ignition of a car in the driveway. I walked out onto the front porch to see Mikey grinning in the cars’ driver seat. I slipped into the car and raised an eyebrow at Mikey.

“Michael Way what are you doing?” I questioned.  
“It’s a surprise.”  
“What are y-,“ Mikey cut me off by placing his hand over my mouth.  
“Just wait and see, if I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

I let out an exasperated huff but didn’t say another word. The smile on Mikey’s face never faltered throughout the entire drive but neither of us spoke, instead we enjoyed the silence. Mikey parked the car at the bottom of a small hill that was a fair way out of town considering all that was around us was woodland and empty fields.  
Mikey dashed out of the car half running to make it to my side and open the door for me. I laughed and put on my best posh accent while taking his hand and gracefully hopping out of the car.  
“Why thank you Michael.”  
“You’re most welcome Mirabelle.”  
“So tell me why are we parked in the middle of nowhere next to a hill? Planning on murdering me and dumping my body out here?”  
Mikey’s face fell a little, “You’re an idiot Mira, just close your eyes and come with me.” Mikey grabbed hold of both my hands.  
I let a small groan escape my lips and against my will closed my eyes allowing Mikey to pull me along up the hill. I was puffing and the back of my legs began to ache as we made it to the top of the hill.  
“Damn….I’m….so…unfit….can I open-my-my eyes now?” I asked in between breaths.  
“Yep.”

I let my eyelids shoot open. I found myself in dire need for air as I took in the sight before me. The illuminated skyline of Bellville glistened and sparkled in the twilight. The lights danced on the surface of the lake that lay between us and the buildings creating a warped polychrome of colours. The setting sun left all this with a warming orange glow and made everything seem almost surreal, exquisitely beautiful, but surreal.

I turned to face Mikey who was staring at me, he instantly brightened up as I engulfed his body in a tight hug, “Mikey this-this is beautiful, how’d you find this place?”  
“My grandmother took Gerard and I here every Saturday afternoon when we were kids, we would play and watch the sunset, I’ve haven’t been here since she died a few years ago, but I wanted to come back and show it to you,” his eyes reflected all the colour of the lights making them shine and look even more beautiful whilst he spoke.  
“Thank you, for bringing me here Mikey, I-I don’t know what to say,” I let my head drop a little, never did I find myself at a loss for words and yet here I was almost speechless.  
“You don’t have to say anything,” Mikey lifted my head up and placed his palms gently on my cheeks.  
I closed my eyes and let Mikey lean in towards me. I felt the familiar warmness and taste of cinnamon as his lips hit mine. His hands grabbed onto my waist pulling me closer to his body as I wrapped my arms around his neck. We didn’t work against each other but rather in sync, moving together rhythmically. I felt my legs give way a little but Mikey’s grip held my body upright.

Mikey pulled away not letting go of my waist and rested his forehead against mine. Our noses brushed and we both smiled while breathing heavily.  
“I never would have thought that day when Ray hit you with the ball that this is how things would turn out.”  
“Neither, but I’m glad it did.”  
“Same,” Mikey took a deep breath,” I-I love you Mira.”  
“Good, because I love you too,” I laughed placing a small kiss on his nose and then collided my lips against his allowing the Jersey skyline and setting sun to outline our intermingled silhouettes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone, so this is the end, I really hope you enjoyed this fic, and I thank you so very much for taking the time to read it! x


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